KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) — Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said Saturday that eight jailed foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity could be visited by Western diplomats, relatives and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"The first important phase of the investigation is coming to an end. Diplomats and family members of detainees can come and see them in Kabul," Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told Reuters by telephone from the hard-line Islamic movement's stronghold in Kandahar.
"I have given the authorization for the issue of visas," Muttawakil said.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency said ICRC officials would be able to meet the six women and two men held in Kabul Sunday morning.
The foreigners — two Australians, four Germans and two Americans — worked for the German-based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International. Sixteen Afghan colleagues were also arrested.
Despite Taliban's announcement, it was not clear how soon visits could take place.
The ICRC said it was working out details of a visit. The U.S. and German governments both said their diplomats had yet to receive visas. The Taliban said it had received no authorization to give visas to relatives of the two detained Americans.
Since the arrests three weeks ago, the Taliban has refused all outside access to the foreigners before it finished its investigation. It said the inquiry into proselytizing had spread to other aid agencies, including the U.N. World Food Program.
Islamabad-based diplomats from Germany, Australia and the United States spent a futile week in Kabul, returning to the Pakistani capital last Tuesday after convincing the Taliban only to pass on personal items. Although Muttawakil said permission for visas had been granted, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said visas for the three diplomats would not be issued until Monday.
The Taliban embassy also said it had no instructions to give visas to two relatives of the detainees waiting in Islamabad—the mother of one detained American and father of another.
The diplomats reacted cautiously. They had booked seats on a U.N. plane on Sunday but under U.N. rules would not be able to go without the visas in their passports.
"First of all we have to get the visas. Last time it took days, let's see what happens... I cannot say for the moment," said one diplomat awaiting a visa after Muttawakil's statement.
The German and U.S. governments both reacted cautiously, emphasising that their diplomats were still awaiting visas to carry out the visits, a normal procedure internationally that the Taliban had refused to follow.
"There seems to be some indication now that they are going to grant visas. The bottom line is that they don't have them yet," a State Department spokeswoman said in Washington.
Talks continuing
Mario Musa, an ICRC spokesman in Kabul, said his group was discussing the ICRC visit with the Taliban Foreign Ministry, including a Red Cross requirement that detainees be interviewed in private.
"The foreign minister has given a green light for the visit," he said. "Now we are undertaking contacts with the ministry to discuss the modalities for the visit."
Muttawakil reiterated that the final fate of the detainees rested with Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive supreme leader of the Taliban, which is trying to impose a purist form of Islam on Afghanistan.
"The outcome of the investigation will be given to the court and then will be passed on to Amir-ul-Momineen (Omar) for the final decision about the punishment," he told Reuters.
The head of the Taliban's religious police previously ruled out pardons, saying those detained were aware they were violating a clear ban. Seeking converts or converting people from Islam can carry the death penalty in Afghanistan.
The Taliban says a haul of Christian material was seized, much in the local languages Dari or Pashto, which showed those detained were spreading Christianity. Shelter Now says its staff is told not to proselytise.
The arrests followed months of worsening relations between the Taliban and foreign aid organisations helping Afghans suffering long years of war and a devastating drought.
The movement has been internationally condemned for its human rights record—particularly with regard to women—and for destroying Afghanistan's pre-Islamic heritage, including giant ancient Buddhas hewn from cliffs in Bamiyan.