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| November 17, 2001 | Saturday | Ramazan 1, 1422 |
Taliban treated us with respect, say aid workers
ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: The American and Australian aid workers, released from captivity, told reporters on Friday that they were “well treated by the Taliban during their three-month captivity”, allowed religious freedom to practise their faith and had their meals prepared by a cook of a Taliban commander.
“They treated us with respect and gave us the best they could,” the 24-year-old American Heather Mercer told reporters at a news conference at the United States Information Centre.
The eight foreign aid workers, including Americans Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer, Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas and Germans Katrin Jelinek, Margrit Stebner, George Taubmann and Silke Durrkopf, were arrested in August by Taliban for allegedly preaching Christianity in violation of Afghan law, a charge which carried death penalty.
In their first media appearances at two separate news conferences after reaching Islamabad on Thursday evening, the American and Australian aid workers recounted their stay in Taliban captivity and the dramatic “Hollywood-style rescue” following the fall of Kabul.
Ms Mercer said she had no animosity towards the Taliban. “They were doing what was their job,” she said. “But they treated us with respect.”
Voicing similar views about her captors, Dayna Curry, 30, said the Taliban guards called them sisters and took care of them.
“A few Taliban soldiers said that they would not let any harm come to us and would lay down their lives before harm could touch their sisters,” she said.
Both the aid workers said that considering the circumstances, Taliban treated them very well. The cook of the Taliban commander made our meals, Heather Mercer said. Ms Mercer said the Taliban allowed them religious freedom and they were free to practise their faith.
“The Taliban did not stop us from praying or singing,” she said. “The only time they stopped us from singing was 15 minutes before the (Muslim) prayer time,” Ms Mercer said.
A local religious leader, who saw the news conference on television, called Dawn and asked: “What do you think of Taliban now?”
Maulvi Abdul Rashid said that the aid workers had themselves admitted that they were treated in accordance with the teachings of Islam, which call for treating the prisoners humanely and with respect.
“The Taliban could have easily killed these prisoners before leaving Kabul or used them as human shields but they did not do so despite being targets of the Daisy Cutter bombs from the US,” Maulvi Rashid said.
Ms Curry said that during interaction with Afghans, matters of religion propped up