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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush welcomed home two American aid workers held captive for three months by Afghanistan's Taliban, calling the women's experience ``a story of joy, story of hope.'' Bush met privately in the Oval Office with Heather Mercer, 24, and Dayna Curry, 30, who arrived in the United States Sunday. Vice President Dick Cheney was also on hand to welcome the women and their families to the White House. The two women had only been trying to help people and ``their faith led them to Afghanistan,'' Bush told reporters in the Rose Garden. Theirs ``is a wonderful story ...

WASHINGTON — Eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, held captive in Afghanistan for three months were airlifted to freedom yesterday by U.S. military helicopters. The Taliban militia had agreed to release the aid workers but left them behind as they fled from Northern Alliance rebels, paving the way for their dramatic rescue, senior Bush administration officials said. Three U.S. special-forces helicopters picked up the aid workers in a field near Ghazni, about 50 miles southwest of Kabul, about 4:40 p.m. EST, Pentagon officials said. The aid workers were flown to Pakistan, where some were to be reunited with ...

<p>The last three months were the "greatest terror" and the "greatest privilege" in her life, said Mercer (right).</p> <p>ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Tear-choked aid workers held by the Taliban for over three months for preaching Christianity have told reporters in Pakistan that they used their faith to get through the ordeal.</p>

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov 16, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Two freed American aid workers told Friday of their terror during months of Taliban captivity, their dramatic rescue at the hands of anti-Taliban troops and American special forces - and their hopes for a free Afghanistan. "We're so grateful to be back home," 24-year-old Heather Mercer told a news conference in Islamabad a day after the group of eight Christian aid workers were whisked out of southern Afghanistan by helicopter. The workers had been arrested by the Taliban more than three months earlier for preaching Christianity. "The men who came ...

There are many things on our minds and in our prayers right now. Please also remember the Shelter Now - Germany aid workers on trial in Afghanistan right now. Most recent articles posted to FR over weekend about the aid workers: Kabul aid workers trial resumes and Taliban Say They Know Where Bin Laden Hiding; Accused Aid Workers Back on Trial in Afghanistan older articles: Aid workers' preaching trial to resume Saturday (9/27) Aid workers enter innocent plea in Taliban courtroom (9/8)Taliban says Western aid agency teaching ChristianityI woke up just now with the aid workers on my mind. I ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov 14, 2001 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Tilden Curry was standing in line at a church supper Wednesday night when he got the news he had waited months to hear: His daughter and seven other aid workers were free from the Taliban. Americans Dayna Curry, 30, and Heather Mercer, 24, and the six others had been jailed since August in Afghanistan for preaching Christianity in the Muslim country. The Taliban militia fled Kabul with the workers Monday as northern alliance opposition forces took over the city. "The last two days have been the most difficult two days ...