Afghanistan's Taliban militia said Saturday it would release eight foreign aid workers on trial for preaching Christianity, in exchange for an end to US military threats. Meanwhile, Taliban anti-aircraft units claimed to have shot down an unmanned US spy plane.
Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel was quoted by CNN as saying in a statement that the aid workers would be released "if the United States stops its mass propaganda of military action."
The foreign aid workers - two Americans, two Australians and four Germans - were arrested in early August along with 16 Afghans and charged with trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
The detained workers are Germans Georg Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf, Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas, and Americans Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry.
During the defendants' last court appearance in Kabul a week ago, the Taliban promised the accused would receive a fair trial, despite the threat of US military action against Afghanistan, where the militia is harboring terror suspect Osama bin Laden.
Under the Taliban's radical brand of "Islamic" law, the maximum penalty for trying to convert Afghan Muslims to another faith is death. The militia has refused to explain the exact charges against the aid workers.
Later on Tuesday, Taliban's anti-aircraft units claimed to have shot down an unidentified plane that circled above the Afghan capital Kabul, triggering anger and panic in the streets.
The plane, which had circled the city several times, was not of a type used by the ruling Taliban regime, eyewitnesses quoted by AFP said.
Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel said that eyewitnesses had seen the plane being shot down and that “its white parts scattered around in the sky.”
However, Al Jazeera broadcast live footage of the incident, showing that Taliban militia forces fired a missile at the plane but failed to hit it.
Anti-aircraft fire was also heard on the report by a correspondent for Al Jazeera, the only television station authorized to broadcast continuously from Taliban-ruled territory in Afghanistan.
Taliban officials said the plane was an American one, according to CNN.
Opposition forces in Afghanistan have helicopters, but do not possess any planes of their own.
Kabul has been rife with rumors in the past few days of imminent US military strikes.
The United States has threatened military action against the Taliban for its refusal to hand over Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
