KABUL, 26 December 2007 — Afghanistan has ordered the expulsion of a Briton working for the EU and an Irishman working for the United Nations, accusing them of posing a threat to national security, officials and diplomats said yesterday.
Local news portals said the pair may have visited the Taleban insurgent stronghold of Helmand recently and might have met with senior tribal elders with close links to the Taleban — or even insurgent leaders themselves. “Their activities were against the national security,” an Afghan official said, adding they would be expelled and some locals would also be investigated.
Afghan officials did not give the names or nationalities of the two, and gave no further details of their arrests. Western diplomats gave only their nationalities and the organizations they worked for.
Earlier, the office of President Hamid Karzai had at first announced at a press conference that the two officials had been arrested. Spokesman Homayun Hamidzada later told AFP the pair, whom he did not identify, had been asked to leave the country. Another official said that two of their Afghan colleagues had been arrested.
“The foreign nationals have been declared persona non grata and their Afghan colleagues have been arrested and are being investigated,” Hamidzada said. He said his earlier statement that the pair was in custody was a “misunderstanding” but insisted that the government still believed they were a threat to national security.
They had been accused of “having had contacts with the armed opposition out of the knowledge of the government,” the diplomat said. “Afghans claim they have documents proving these guys had contacts with the Taleban but have not given any proof,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office in London said they were aware of the reports and were pursuing them with the Afghan government. “We have seen and heard the reports and are following up with the Afghan government,” she told Reuters.
The UN mission said it was not sure on what basis the government had made the allegations. “The government has not made clear its justification for this action and we are trying to clarify this misunderstanding,” said spokesman Aleem Siddique. “We have no reason to believe that there is any justification for such a request,” he said adding that the UN official was a British national and that the EU staffer was an Irish national.
An Afghan Foreign Ministry official said the men were asked to leave because they had done something “not in their mandate.” Britain is one of the main countries helping war-torn Afghanistan get back on its feet after the ouster of the Taleban, who were toppled from government in a US-led invasion after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Cases of Westerners allegedly involved in illegal activities related to national security have in the past been rare. Jonathan “Jack” Idema, an American, left the country in June after spending almost three years behind bars on charges of running a private jail and kidnapping and torturing Afghans.
Idema was sentenced to 10 years, which was later reduced to five. He was freed after receiving a pardon. The ex-soldier said he was carrying out anti-terrorism operations in coordination with the US Defense Department and Afghan authorities. Both governments denied the claim.
In December 2006, an aide to the then British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan was arrested on charges of passing secrets to “the enemy,” reportedly Iran. Iranian-born Daniel James, 44, denied passing secrets to Iran. He is due to face trial in February.
As in Iraq, there are dozens of private foreign-run security groups in Afghanistan providing protection to international and nongovernmental organizations — particularly in areas where the Taleban insurgency is strongest.
