U.S. tries to help arrested Americans in Afghanistan

By Elise Labott
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, has applied for a visa to Afghanistan, to send a representative to help two American women being held by the nation's ruling Taliban, U.S. State Department officials told CNN.

The United States has received little information from the Taliban about the women, whom the Taliban accuse of proselytizing for Christianity.

U.S. officials are relying on public statements by Taliban officials that the women are unharmed and being treated well, but the detainees have not been able to communicate with anyone.

MORE STORIES A profile of the Taliban  and their battle with the U.N.

State Department officials say they have been in touch with one of the women's families, and are still trying to reach the family of the second. The women were among 24 Afghan and international aid workers from the Shelter Now assistance organization arrested on charges of proselytizing, which is illegal under Islamic Taliban law.

One official said there was some confusion as to whether the crime is punishable by death, or merely calls for the person to be expelled from the country.

According to another State Department official, Shelter Now has been known for proselytizing for several years in Afghanistan.

Webster's defines proselytizing as "to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause."

In a statement released on the Shelter Now International (SNI) Web site on Monday, the group denied that the women were connected to the organization, although it expressed concern for them. The statement described SNI as "a nonsectarian, Christian humanitarian agency" which "exists to assist refugees and internally displaced people in a number of countries around the world."

U.S. officials were not able to provide the identities of the two women, citing privacy laws. They said the women had not signed privacy waivers, and until they do so, the State Department is obliged by law not to divulge their names.

Media reports quote a Taliban official as identifying the Americans as Dana Curry and Nicole Barnardhollon.

The United States has been in touch with Taliban officials in Pakistan several times over the last few days to inquire about the Americans, but those officials have received little information from Taliban headquarters in Kabul.

"The message was the United States would not take lightly any harm that would come to an American citizen," one official said.

State Department officials tell CNN that the consul general from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad visited the Taliban offices three times on the matter, and the Taliban officials there promised to continue pressing Kabul for information.

The United States is also working with Shelter Now officials in Pakistan, officials said.

Officials said the United States has told the Taliban the United States expects the women to be treated well and the matter to be resolved soon.

One official said another message was "it is in their interest to behave like a government if they want to be treated like one," a message which is implied in all contacts the United States has with the militia.

"Just because we don't have a consular agreement with the Taliban doesn't mean that they don't need to act as if we do," the official said.

The United States does not recognize the ruling Taliban militia, but continues unofficial contact with the regime. Officials say contacts between the countries in Islamabad have proven the most fruitful.

The Taliban's offices in New York were closed earlier this year as part of U.N. sanctions designed to force the group to hand over alleged anti-U.S. terrorist Osama bin Laden, who has taken refuge in Afghanistan.

"It is awfully hard to communicate with them, but not because of the lack of relations," one official said. "It just takes a lot of time."

The official added that the Taliban's "religious" police are separate from the foreign ministry, with which the State Department remains in contact, and that could be holding things up.

Officials say they are working with the German and Austrian governments, whose citizens were among the 24 detainees. One official said the United States would be "considering all various" ways to affect a positive outcome.

Only three countries - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - have formal relations with the Taliban, and only Pakistan keeps an embassy in Afghanistan.

Last week Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca met with Taliban officials in Islamabad to reiterate U.S. demands for them to hand over bin Laden and stop support for terrorist training in Afghanistan.