It’s the stuff of nightmares: arrested at gunpoint in a war-ravaged foreign country and thrown into a filthy prison for something you didn’t do.
asserted
you → ’ → something
But for two Australian aid workers, it was the start of a real and terrifying ordeal in Afghanistan that almost cost their lives.
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that → cost → lives
Peter Bunch, Diana Thomas and six foreign colleagues became Taliban prisoners of war as bombs rained down after the deadly 9/11 attacks.
asserted
bombs → become → attacks
“I made peace with myself and God,” Bunch, now 83, said, 25 years after US special forces rescued the group.
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forces → make → group
Religious police arrested the Shelter Now International team on August 3, 2001, about six weeks before the Twin Towers fell in New York.
“They put a Kalashnikov to the side of my head,” Bunch recalls of being taken into custody.
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Bunch → arrest → custody
Local staff were also seized in the purge, which made international headlines.
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which → seize → headlines
Accused of preaching Christianity to Afghans, the missionaries, including four Germans and two Americans, faced fundamentalist trial under Sharia law and potentially the death penalty.
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missionaries → accuse → law
“It was absolute terror,” says German Georg Taubmann, now 70.
asserted
Taubmann → say → ?
The pariah state had become infamous for extreme restrictions on women and brutal medieval punishment, including public executions.
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state → become → executions
Initially denied diplomatic help and with no formal charges laid, the six women and two men were separated and interrogated for weeks.
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women → deny → weeks
“The allegations were all a load of rubbish,” Thomas, now 76, says.
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Thomas → say → rubbish
“All they really wanted was money.”
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they → want → ?
The group was hauled into a “kangaroo court” before a known ‘hanging judge’.
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group → haul → judge
“Nobody would say anything about why we were in there and the Pakistani lawyer we got ... was useless,” Bunch says.
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Bunch → say → anything
“We went on a hunger strike for a while to get some sense out of the Taliban.”
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We → go → Taliban
Horrendous conditions worsened the uncertainty.
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conditions → worsen → uncertainty
Australian diplomat Alastar Adams was deployed to Kabul to help.
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Adams → deploy → Kabul
“It was a most unusual situation but it also wasn’t our job to interfere with the law of the land,” the now 80-year-old says.
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old → interfere → land
When Osama bin Laden-led Al-Qaeda attacked the US, destroying the World Trade Centre towers on September 11, the aid workers’ situation became more dire.
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situation → lead → September
With thousands dead and the Taliban accused of harbouring Al-Qaeda, then prime minister John Howard invoked the ANZUS treaty and the US prepared to counterstrike.
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US → accuse → treaty
“I said: ‘Well, there’s no hope for us anymore’,” says Mr Taubmann who was then the German aid agency’s country director.
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who → say → us
US president George W Bush demanded the Taliban hand over the Al-Qaeda leaders “who hide in your land” and “release all foreign nationals ... you have unjustly imprisoned”.
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you → demand → nationals
As war loomed, Westerners evacuated Afghanistan and the aid workers’ chances of survival diminished.
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chances → loom → survival
The Taliban attempted to negotiate, offering to exchange the group for an end to the US military threats.
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Taliban → attempt → threats
Bunch and Thomas were no longer religious prisoners so much as political captives and international pawns in a scenario where Australia’s hands were tied.
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hands → tie → scenario
“We were obviously taken as hostages for 9/11, human shields,” Thomas says.
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Thomas → take → 9/11
“That’s why we were there, as bargaining chips.”
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we → ’ → chips
President Bush rejected the swap proposal, announcing from the White House on October 7, the launch of military operations.
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Bush → reject → operations
“We just had to let the war take its course,” Adams says.
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Adams → have → course
US and British planes started pounding Taliban targets, the first strikes in the global war on terror.
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planes → start → terror
“It was the right thing to do; they had to attack,” Thomas says.
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Thomas → do → ?
“We realised at that stage it was all in God’s hands.”
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it → realise → hands
Nightly bombing runs shook Kabul.
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runs → shake → Kabul
“We were bombed for nearly six weeks while we were in jail,” Bunch says.
“The closest was a few hundred metres away.”
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closest → bomb → jail
As days became weeks, the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance swept south, routing Kabul-bound Taliban forces.
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Alliance → become → forces
As news reached them, the aid workers mustered hope.
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workers → reach → hope
“You could tell the Northern Alliance was close; there was gunfire everywhere,” Bunch says.
uncertain
Bunch → tell → ?
But as fighting intensified, a group of “aggressive” Taliban wrenched them from their cells.
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group → intensify → cells
Jammed into a four-wheel-drive loaded with rocket launchers, the group was suddenly part of a convoy in flight.
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group → jam → flight
Alliance troops marched into Kabul on November 13.
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troops → march → November
…and 55 more, not listed.
The Aporia
