I am thinking of their families and how relieved and overjoyed they will be to see them again--all 8 of them, not just the Americans.
Does anyone else like saying this word...Jalalabad? I do....Jalalabad...Jalalalalalalabad...hee hee hee.
BIGJOESADDLE, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE EASILY AMUSED.
Either way, the Taliban look like subhuman scum. I have no opinion on Islam itself, but the Taliban's subsect of it is indeed a gutter religion.
WASHINGTON, Nov 14, 2001 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Eight foreign aid workers held by the Taliban militia since last August for preaching Christianity were freed Wednesday and were headed to Pakistan, a U.S. official said. Two of the eight are Americans.
A second U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were freed as a result of military action, but would give no details.
The disclosure came after the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said he was confident the eight would be released soon.
Seif el-Islam Gadhafi, chairman of the Gadhafi Foundation for Charitable Organizations, told The Associated Press that his non-governmental organization has been in touch with the Taliban for about two months in efforts to win their freedom.
"I believe that the Taliban will release these people in the near future," he said in a statement to the AP made through Libya's consulate in Vienna.
In Washington, State Department spoeksman Richard Boucher said he hopes the reports are true but could not confirm them. He said U.S. officials had received no word from the Taliban as to the whereabouts of the Americans or on whether they will be released.
Although the United States accuses Libya of sponsoring terrorism, and recently extended sanctions against foreign companies suspected of doing business with the North African nation, Washington suspended sanctions against Libya itself in 1999.
The suspension came after Libya handed over two officials for trial on charges of planting the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The attack killed 270 people, including 179 Americans.
The eight workers - four Germans, two Americans and two Australians - are employees of the Germany-based Christian organization Shelter Now International. They have been held since Aug. 3 on charges of trying to convert Muslims, a serious offense in Islamic Afghanistan.
Taliban Supreme Court judges had indefinitely postponed their trial, saying they feared anger at the United States over the airstrikes could hamper their ability to make a fair ruling in the case.
On Tuesday, the eight were moved from their cells in a detention center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and were taken to the south by retreating Taliban forces.
Jimmy Seibert, senior pastor at the Texas church attended by the two Americans, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, said he had not received word on when the women would be released.
"Our hope is that they will be released in the next couple of days,," Seibert said Wednesday at a news conference at Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas.
Gadhafi's son said his foundation made contact with the Taliban "with the aim of finding a solution for these people through third-party mediation," and that the effort was bearing fruit "because of the good standing the foundation enjoys in this area."
He said his group was working "to try to visit these people in order to convey letters and messages from them to their families," adding: "As far as I know, they are all in good health."
Joachim Jaeger, co-chairman of Shelter Now, told the AP on Wednesday that the organization had not yet been contacted by Gadhafi's son or his foundation.
But Jaeger said he welcomed any nonviolent assistance in winning the freedom of the eight. "We are thankful for everything that helps, of course, as long as it's peaceful," he said.
Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, played down a German newspaper report Wednesday suggesting that his government had information from foreign intelligence agencies indicating the eight were already on their way back to Kabul.
"I have no new information to report on the status of the jailed Shelter Now workers," Fischer told reporters.
Libya is anxious to improve its standing with the West, and last year, it was involved in freeing all but one of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers kidnapped by rebels in the Philippines.
By GEORGE GEDDA Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved
}:-)4
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.
Our church too has been praying regularly for these people. From the red zones in California!
Many prayers were answered here.