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Western Aid Workers Freed
CBS News ^ | Nov. 14, 2001 | David Martin

Posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:13 PM PST by Dixie Mom

Western Aid Workers Freed
8 Workers Held In Kabul Rescued By Rebels And Flown To Pakistan U.S. Estimates Taliban Controls Only 10% Of Afghanistan Osama bin Laden Is Still Being Sought, And Bombing Continues

Nov. 14, 2001

(CBS) Eight western aid workers held by the Taliban are safe in Pakistan, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.

A U.S. military helicopter flew the group, including Americans Heather Mercer and Dyna Curry, out of Afghanistan after being held in a cell in Kabul on charges of preaching Christianity. When the Taliban pulled out, the opposition forces were able to rescue them.

The workers are employees of the Germany-based Christian organization Shelter Now International. They had been held since Aug. 3 on charges of trying to convert Muslims, a serious offense in Islamic Afghanistan.

U.S. Officials have already talked to them by phone and they are said to be in good condition. They will go first to a Pakistani military base and from there to Islamabad where their families are waiting.

According to the latest U.S. intelligence estimates, the Taliban now only controls 10 percent of Afghanistan.

Anti-Taliban forces have taken control of the eastern city of Jalalabad, sources said, and there were conflicting reports as to whether the airport outside the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar had also fallen.

The Pentagon said the northern alliance has made gains south of Kabul against Taliban forces, but said it was not clear the opposition had taken control of the airport.

"The northern alliance has continued to make gains south of Kabul as well as Herat and at the outskirts of Jalalabad, but this is just a snapshot and the situation remains fluid," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem told a media briefing.

"Anti-Taliban opposition groups in southern Afghanistan are rebelling against Taliban control, especially near Kandahar. Again though, this situation is very dynamic," he added.

Meanwhile, the northern alliance moved Wednesday to consolidate its grip on Kabul, taking over key posts and ministries. Forced to retreat south, the Taliban were struggling to prevent their movement from disintegrating.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that, while it is gratifying to see the people of Afghanistan getting their country back, there are key Taliban leaders to be found.

"Some have been killed, others are hiding, and there are no particular reports of senior leadership having been located," Rumsfeld said in New York, adding. "The Taliban, some pieces of it, are melting into the countryside because they have decided to toss in the towel. In other cases, they may be simply waiting to counterattack at some other time."

Asked if the intelligence on Osama bin Laden's location is getting any better, if he was on the run, Vice President Dick Cheney told CBS News' Gloria Borger, "I think he is. I think he's probably still in Afghanistan but I think he's having to move pretty dramatically from place to place to try to stay ahead of the advancing forces of the opposition."

On Tuesday, an unmanned CIA drone armed with anti-tank missiles along with U.S. military jets attacked and destroyed a building where senior members of bin Laden's network were believed to be meeting. U.S. officials assume everyone in the building was killed, but they don't know their identities, don't know if bin Laden was among them.

Allied forces will keep bombing selected military targets in Afghanistan until bin Laden is found, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said. U.S. warplanes kept up pressure on the Taliban with air raids outside the capital Wednesday. American aircraft bombed the airport and military installations around the city of Jalalabad at least six times overnight and early in the morning, it was reported.

World leaders were trying to cobble together a multinational peacekeeping force for Afghanistan and plans for a transitional government for a country racked by civil war since the former Soviet Union invaded on Christmas Day, 1979, to back communist rule in the Muslim country.

Pashtun tribal leaders in key areas of the south were reportedly in open revolt against the fundamentalist Islamic militia. That was potentially bad news for bin Laden, who is reported to be somewhere in the vicinity of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.

In the capital, radio broadcasts resumed and television was promised soon. Northern alliance officials returned to government offices they abandoned in 1996 when the Taliban drove them out.

Officials portrayed the takeover of key ministries, such as defense and interior, as temporary and said they support a U.N.-supervised political settlement in which all ethnic groups would be represented.

In the south and east of the country, the situation appeared chaotic as local tribal leaders appeared to challenge the Taliban in the ethnic Pashtun heartlands.
Afghan sources in Pakistan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the airport in the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar was held by about 200 fighters loyal to Arif Khan, a member of a southern Pashtun tribe.

In Kabul, relieved residents awoke Wednesday after a night free of the nearby crash of U.S. bombs. Triumphant northern alliance fighters patrolled the streets.

The Taliban abandoned Kabul and headed south before dawn Tuesday after the northern alliance, backed by intensive American bombing, fought their way to the edge of the city.

Mohammed Alam Ezdediar, who headed a northern alliance radio station before Kabul fell, assumed control of the newly renamed Radio Afghanistan and resumed airing music, which the Taliban had banned as frivolous.

Daoud Naimi, the new acting director of TV Afghanistan, said he hoped to resume television broadcasts soon. Television was also banned by the Taliban as un-Islamic.

Kabul residents cheerfully abandoned other Taliban edicts — children flew kites, teen-agers listened to music and men shaved their beards. But most women retained their all-encompassing burqas.

The top U.N. envoy for Afghanistan outlined a plan for a two-year transitional government with a multinational security force. On Tuesday, northern alliance spokesman Abdullah said his movement supported the plan.

For the time being, however, the alliance, especially the Jamiat-e-Islami faction of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, moved into key ministries in the capital.

Pakistani intelligence sources said the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was trying to rally his remaining followers. Omar was either traveling with or was remaining in close communications with bin Laden, they added.

The Pentagon said U.S. special forces were in southern Afghanistan, working on the next phase of the campaign. U.S military planners think the best course is to approach ethnic Pashtun tribal leaders in the south who are unhappy with the Taliban — and persuade them to defect.

In other developments:

An aide to Afhanistan's exiled monarch, Zaher Shah, said Wednesday that the 87-year-old king was willing to return to Afghanistan. Shah, who ruled for 40 years, has lived in Rome since he was ousted in 1973 in a palace coup.

The United Nations sent its first delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, 55 tons of winter supplies via a barge across the Amu Darya River that separates Afghanistan from Uzbekistan.

In London, thousands of British troops were ordered to prepare for possible duty in Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan.



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christianlist; christianpersecutio
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Comment #41 Removed by Moderator

To: Dixie Mom

Afghan Aid Worker Detainees Free -U.S. Officials

By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight Western aid workers held by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

"They are in safe hands and they're on their way to Pakistan," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A second U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two Americans, Australians and four Germans had been lifted out by a U.S. military helicopter. No further details of the circumstances of their release were immediately available.

At a Waco, Texas, church where the two Americans among the group, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, were members, people greeted the news of with delight.

"We're very excited. There's been lots of hooting and hollering around here since we heard the news," said church employee Sara Selke.

Mercer and Curry were members of the evangelical, non-denominational Antioch Community Church when they attended nearby Baylor University.

The 1,000-member church has kept up a 24-hour prayer vigil for the women for weeks.

Source


42 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:25 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: YaYa123
and wondering aloud...foolishly....if Hollywood will make a movie of this.

I had similar thoughts, but I, too, doubt tinsel town would ever dare make such a ANTI-PC work of Cinema like that.

43 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:29 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: anniegetyourgun
Bump!
44 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:36 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: Dixie Mom
Praise the Lord! This is wonderful! I can't imagine the joy and relief they and their families must be feeling!
45 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:36 PM PST by kayak
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To: kayak
Herein is a healthy dose of faith-strengthening, eh? For us, for them, for the families, for the churches, for every single individual who prayed for these by name.
46 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:37 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: anniegetyourgun
Herein is a healthy dose of faith-strengthening, eh? For us, for them, for the families, for the churches, for every single individual who prayed for these by name.

Amen.

47 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:39 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Dixie Mom
Hallelujah!

Our church too has been praying regularly for these people. From the red zones in California!

48 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:40 PM PST by BoneHead
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To: JohnHuang2
How did we ever get them out without Jesse Jackson's help?
49 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:43 PM PST by Hugh Akston
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To: Dixie Mom
This is absolutely fantastic news.

Many prayers were answered here.

50 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:43 PM PST by Hugh Akston
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To: Hugh Akston
"How did we ever get them out without Jesse Jackson's help?"

We probably threatend to really send him if they weren't freed. LOL
51 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:45 PM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
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To: JohnHuang2
Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!

;-)

52 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:45 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Dixie Mom
This is good news. When I heard that the retreating Toweliban took them away from Kabul, I was worried that they might get killed accidentally by American fighters prowling the road to Kandahar. It's good to know that they're safe.
53 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:57 PM PST by Redcloak
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To: JohnHuang2
G-R-E-A-T -- N-E-W-S PING!BUMP!

I was really concerned about this group. They're very fortunate.

Thanks, *pancake* thief. : )

54 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:57 PM PST by ST.LOUIE1
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To: JohnHuang2
OH wow this is so wonderful, GREAT NEWS is right JH2 .

Yipppeeeee !!!!!!!

55 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:57 PM PST by Snow Bunny
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To: JohnHuang2
Thank you for the flag! Such good news!!!!!
56 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:57 PM PST by GretchenEE
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To: JohnHuang2; Dixie Mom
Fantastic news. I just saw this story on another newsgroup. One poster had written "Praise God! Now, let's bomb the he!! out of them!" Hmmm. I guess that would be something like the old 1940's tune, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." Only in America, kids, only in America...
57 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:58 PM PST by demnomo
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To: Dixie Mom
When the Taliban pulled out, the opposition forces were able to rescue them.

U.S. Officials have already talked to them by phone and they are said to be in good condition. They will go first to a Pakistani military base and from there to Islamabad where their families are waiting.

Excellent news. God is good.

58 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:59 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Hugh Akston
How did we ever get them out without Jesse Jackson's help?

ROTFLOL

59 posted on 11/16/2001 1:11:59 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: JohnHuang2; habs4ever
Wonderful! Praise the Lord, and pass the ammo!!!

Thank you for letting me know.

60 posted on 11/16/2001 1:12:29 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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