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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Euro Envoys Booted by Afghanis for Taliban Talks

Diplomatic row over alleged Taliban meeting

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(Newser) – European officials were scrambling today to block Afghanistan's ordered expulsion of two high-ranking foreign officials because of an alleged link to Taliban insurgents, the BBC reports. Afghan authorities claim that the men, one an Irish envoy from the EU and the other a British UN official, met with Taliban members and gave them money. The order follows revelations in the media that British intelligence operatives secretly met with the Taliban last summer.

A UN spokesman said the men did not talk to Taliban militants, but had been in Helmand province, where Taliban militants are active, to meet with residents there. Afghanistan's interior ministry had been informed of the men's trip to the town of Musa Qula, recently reclaimed from the Taliban, according to European officials. The men have been ordered to leave tomorrow.

In this image made available by Britain's Ministry of Defence, General Mahayadin, bottom right, from the Afghan National Army (ANA) reacts as Afghanistan's national flag is raised in the center of Musa-Qala, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. Taliban militants overran Musa Qala in February, four months after British troops left...
In this image made available by Britain's Ministry of Defence, General Mahayadin, bottom right, from the Afghan National Army (ANA) reacts as Afghanistan's national flag is raised in the center of Musa-Qala,...   (Associated Press)
Afghan farmers tend to marijuana plants in Balkh province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Oct. 15, 2007. The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were completely free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials. However, cannabis cultivation rose 40 percent in Afghanistan...
Afghan farmers tend to marijuana plants in Balkh province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Oct. 15, 2007. The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were completely free of opium poppies this...   (Associated Press)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,center, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, inspect the guard of honor at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. The order to expel the two diplomat from Afghanistan was said to have come from the president's office.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, Pool)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,center, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, inspect the guard of honor at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. The order to expel the two diplomat from...   (Associated Press)
Soldiers of the Afghan National army wash their clothes as British soldiers on patrol pass in Musa Qala in Afghanistan, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. The town was recently reclaimed from the Taliban, and a meeting two diplomats had with alleged Taliban members there is at the heart of a diplomatic...
Soldiers of the Afghan National army wash their clothes as British soldiers on patrol pass in Musa Qala in Afghanistan, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. The town was recently reclaimed from the Taliban, and a...   (Associated Press)
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