Eighteen staff of aid organization International Assistance Mission at Afghanistan’s Ghor province have been detained by the Taliban.
Members of the Taliban’s intelligence department raided the office of the International Assistance Mission (IAM) at Ghor on Wednesday and detained 15 of the staff working there, including six women, according to two reliable sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three other IAM staff had been detained more than a week earlier while working at Ghor’s Lal wa Sarjangal district. They include a foreigner who is a doctor, the general manager, and a security guard.
IAM released a statement Friday confirming 18 Ghor staff have been detained.
“We are unaware of the circumstances that led to these incidents and have not been advised of the reason for the detention of our staff members,” the statement said.
“The well-being and security of our colleagues are paramount to us, and we are doing everything possible to ensure their safety and secure their swift release.”
IAM said three staff members, including an international team member, were put in detention on September 3. The other 15 staff were detained Wednesday while at the Ghor office. All 18 have now been transferred to Kabul, it said.
Sources told Rukhshana Media that armed forces attached to the Taliban intelligence department surrounded IAM’s office at Ghor about 2:00pm on Wednesday and stayed there until 7:00pm, not allowing anyone to leave.
According to the source, the Taliban intelligence forces said they had a list of names of IAM employees sent from Kabul, and they arrested people according to the list. The remaining staff were warned not to return to their work until further notice.
Family members of one of IAM’s employees who was arrested Wednesday said that they have heard nothing from Taliban authorities about what is happening, despite their requests for information.
“When my relative didn’t return home in the afternoon like he used to, it was 5:30pm and I got worried. I called him, and he said that he would not come home and maybe he would go to Kabul, and nothing else,” one family member said.
Since then, the family has had no contact and the IAM staff member’s cellphone has been switched off.
“All I know is that he was transferred to Kabul and that he is not alone. There are also his colleagues, including their female colleagues,” the concerned family member said.
Names of the IAM staff will not be published, as requested.
Mawlawi Abdulhai Zaeem, head of the Taliban’s Information and Culture department in Ghor, told Radio Azadi that IAM staff have been detained for evangelising.
“They are arrested for preaching Christianity,” Mr Zaeem said. “One is a foreigner and the rest are all Afghans.”
IAM has rejected allegations it was preaching Christianity. In a second statement released Saturday, the organisation said:
“We stand by the principle that “aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint.” All IAM staff agree to abide by the laws of Afghanistan.”
The statement said IAM has not been informed by authorities of the reason staff were detained nor for the closure of the office in Lal wa Jangal in Ghor province.
No other Taliban authorities have commented on the matter.
IAM said in its statement that it has worked in Afghanistan since 1966. It has spent over US$40 million in the past decade on initiatives in healthcare, education, and community development, it said.
