KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have arrested at least 18 staff of an international NGO, including an American woman, accusing them of carrying out Christian missionary work, the country’s leaders said Saturday.
The International Assistance Mission (IAM) confirmed its staffers were picked up from its office in Ghor province, central Afghanistan, and taken to the capital Kabul.
Security and intelligence forces had been observing the group for some time, Abdul Wahid Hamas Ghori, a government spokesman for the province, told AFP.
“Documents and audios were obtained that showed they were inviting people to join Christianity,” he said, without providing further details.
He said 21 people were arrested, including an American woman.
IAM said in a statement earlier that 18 people, including a “foreigner,” were being held and that it had no information about the nature of the allegations.
The American woman and two Afghan staff were the first to be detained on September 3, followed by 15 more Afghan employees on Wednesday.
“Should any charges be lodged against our organization or any individual staff member, we will independently review any evidence presented,” it added.
IAM’s website says the organization is founded on Christian values, but that it does not provide aid according to political or religious belief.
“We value and respect local customs and cultures,” the Swiss-registered group said in a statement on Saturday.
IAM has operated in Afghanistan since 1966 — through previous royal, communist and Taliban governments — when it specialized in eye care, later branching out into other areas of health and education.
In 2010, 10 IAM medics, including eight foreigners, were shot dead in an attack in remote northern Afghanistan.
At the time, competing theories emerged over the motive for the attack, with police saying it was likely a robbery.
However, two militant groups claimed responsibility, including Taliban leaders who said the medics were Christian missionaries and accused them of working as military spies.
Dozens of foreigners — including several Westerners — have been detained by the Taliban authorities since the group’s return to power in August 2021.
The Taliban rulers have imposed sweeping restrictions on the population they say are in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law — including barring women from working for NGOs and the United Nations.
Teenage girls and women are also banned from schools and universities, and excluded from many other formers of public social life.
US woman among 18 NGO staff detained in Afghanistan
https://arab.news/4a6a2
US woman among 18 NGO staff detained in Afghanistan
- The International Assistance Mission (IAM) confirmed its staffers were picked up from its office in Ghor province
- Security and intelligence forces had been observing the group for some time
EU assembly weighs freezing US trade deal over Trump’s Greenland threats
- Signatories were mainly fellow members of Clausen’s Left Group, but also included center-left Social Democrats and Greens
- Greens lawmaker Anna Cavazzini said the only argument in favor of the deal was to bring stability
BRUSSELS: The European Parliament is considering putting on hold the European Union’s implementation of the trade deal struck with the United States in protest over threats by US President Donald Trump to seize Greenland.
The European Parliament has been debating legislative proposals to remove many of the EU’s import duties on US goods — the bulk of the trade deal with the US — and to continue zero duties for US lobsters, initially agreed with Trump in 2020.
It was due to set its position in votes on January 26-27, which the MEPs said should now be postponed.
Leading members of the cross-parliamentary trade committee met to discuss the issue on Wednesday morning and decide whether to postpone the vote. In the end, they took no decision and settled on reconvening next week.
A parliamentary source said left-leaning and centrist groups favored taking action, such as a postponement.
A group of 23 lawmakers also urged the EU assembly’s president Roberta Metsola on Wednesday to freeze work on the agreement as long as the US administration continued its threats to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“If we go through and approve a deal that Trump has seen as a personal victory, while he makes claims for Greenland and refuses to rule out any manner in which to achieve this, it will be easily seen as rewarding him and his actions,” the letter drafted by Danish lawmaker Per Clausen said.
Signatories were mainly fellow members of Clausen’s Left Group, but also included center-left Social Democrats and Greens.
Greens lawmaker Anna Cavazzini said the only argument in favor of the deal was to bring stability.
“Trump’s actions show again and again that chaos is his only offer,” she said.
French lawmaker Valerie Hayer, head of the centrist Renew Europe group, said on Tuesday the EU should consider holding off a vote if Trump’s threats continued.
Many lawmakers have complained that the US trade deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the US sticks to a broad rate of 15 percent.
However, freezing the deal risks angering Trump, which could lead to higher US tariffs. The Trump administration has also ruled out any concessions, such as cutting tariffs on spirits or steel, until the deal is in place.
