Al-Qaeda plots to kidnap civilian workers in Afghanistan
From The Guardian UK:
Al-Qaeda has called on the Taliban to kidnap more foreign civilians in Afghanistan so they can be used in prisoner swap deals.
By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney, Ben Farmer in Kabul and Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 3:06PM BST 16 Sep 2009
Terrorist leaders say a concerted campaign of abductions targeting thousands of expatriates including Britons was justified by the detention of Muslims in prisons such as Guantánamo Bay.
The call from Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al Masri, has just emerged but was made in July, just weeks before a British journalist, Stephen Farrell, was kidnapped in Kunduz province.
Western sources in Kabul said the order would be seen as a message to criminal kidnap gangs to “let the games begin”, and pass on captives to the Taliban.
The article on a jihadist website, entitled “The US Soldier in Afghanistan – the first step for the release of all prisoners of the war on terror”, said the capture of a US paratrooper in June should mark a precedent for abducting Western civilians.
Masri argued that the US had “changed the rules of the game” by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants and by torturing inmates.
