ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban rulers said Friday the German leader of 24 aid workers held on charges of promoting Christianity had asked for a pardon, as diplomats awaited permission to visit the detainees.The Taliban's Voice of Shariat Radio, quoted by a Pakistan-based Afghan news service, said Georg Taubmann of the German-based Shelter Now International aid agency had ''requested pardon for the workers of his organization'' during interrogation.
The Afghan Islamic Press also quoted the radio as saying Mohammad Salim Haqqani, the deputy minister of the Taliban's religious police, the Department for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, had also met Taubmann Friday.
The report of the request for pardon and the first announced meeting of a Taliban minister with the local SNI chief since his arrest Sunday came as diplomats from the United States, Germany and Australia waited in Islamabad for the Taliban's response to their request for visas to go to Kabul.
The Taliban radio, according to AIP, gave no indication of Taliban's response to the request for pardon.
The Taliban arrested four Germans, two Americans, two Australians and 16 Afghans Sunday on charges that they were trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity, a charge punishable by death in Afghanistan and denied by SNI.
ENVOYS MAY VISIT FOREIGN DETAINEES
The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan received top diplomats from the United States, Germany and Australia Friday and later said they had the right to visit the eight foreign workers. (Read photo caption below)
``Of course we are cooperating with them. We would convey their message back to our authorities in Kabul and of course it is their right to go there and to see them, their nationals,'' Ambassador Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef told a news conference after returning from meeting Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (R) speaks during a news conference in Islamabad August 10, 2001 as Sohail Shaheen, deputy ambassador, sits beside him. Zaeef, who had just returned from meeting Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, said the Islamic movement was cooperating with international requests for access to the detained foreigners. The Taliban flag is seen in the background. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed
- Aug 10 6:49 AM ET