Amsterdam - Dutch aid organisation HealthNet TPO confirmed
Monday that two of its aid workers had been abducted in Afghanistan
on Saturday.
'Our local aid workers Abdul Hafiz Shinwari and Said Akbar were on
their way from Kabul to the eastern province Khost when they were
forced to stop their car by armed militias,' Healthnet TPO
spokesperson Geert Leerik told the German Press Agency dpa.
The owner and driver of the car, who were not abducted, had
reported the incident to HealthNet TPO in Khost. Leerik said the two
aid workers apparently remained uninjured in the abduction, which had
yet to be claimed by any organization.
Healthnet TPO alerted Afghan authorities immediately. On Sunday
the Afghan public health minister called upon religious and tribal
leaders to free the aid workers.
In recent months, TPO Healthnet has repeatedly emphasized the
presence of NATO's International Security and Assistance Forces
(ISAF) jeopardizes the security of all non-governmental aid workers.
'We are caught in the middle between the Taliban and ISAF,' Leerik
said. Taliban fighters were using the aid workers to retaliate
against the international forces' activities.
'But even ISAF is very threatening to us too,' Leerik said, adding
his aid workers are instructed always to try to keep a distance of
some 200 metres from any ISAF military convoy.
Leerik said the difficulties were substantially bigger in areas
where ISAF is active, but military commanders usually 'do not listen
to us when we explain them our problems.'
HealthNet TPO, headquartered in Amsterdam, is a non-profit
organization that works conflict zones or countries disrupted by
disaster and poverty.
The organisaion aims to work with local populations in channeling
emergency aid into sustainable health care development.
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