LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, 21 March 2007 — Relatives of an Afghan driver beheaded by the Taleban accused their government yesterday of not caring about his fate after the Italian reporter captured with him was freed in exchange for five Taleban.
About 200 angry family members protested outside an Italian-run hospital in Lashkar Gah, southern Afghanistan, where Daniele Mastrogiacomo was recovering after his release Monday.
“Why would the government release five criminals for an infidel foreigner and not for a poor Afghan?” demanded Khan Jan, an uncle of the slain driver Sayed Agha, who was captured March 4 with Mastrogiacomo and a translator.
Another uncle, Delbar Jan, told AFP that “(President Hamid) Karzai promised to, and did, help release a foreigner. But he never mentioned about his own Afghans.” “The government is making sacrifice for foreigners, but not for an Afghan,” he said.
Mastrogiacomo said Monday Agha was decapitated in front of him. A spokesman for Dadullah told the Pajhwok Afghan News agency last week that the driver was killed because he was “a spy.”
Taleban commander Mullah Dadullah said in a recorded message to Pajhwok that he had freed the Italian in exchange for five of his men: his brother, two information officers and two commanders. The fate of the translator, Ajmal Naqshbandi, was unclear yesterday.
The government would not confirm the deal, but a Western diplomat said the international community was informed about it yesterday.
The United Nations welcomed Mastrogiacomo’s release. “However on the issue of negotiations, the UN does not negotiate with terrorists,” spokesman Adrian Edwards told AFP.
“We are of course very happy about his release,” said the head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association. “But this was not a good way to do that. This is not acceptable for us,” Rahimullah Samander told AFP.
“Our concern is that after this kind of exchange the journalists will become a target — there will be more and more kidnaps by Taleban and Al-Qaeda.”
Afghan analyst Waheed Mujda said the deal was a sign of weakness in the government and its foreign allies, who are trying to put down a Taleban insurgency that has grown steadily since the hard-liners lost government in 2001.
