"And if I leave this country, if other people like me leave this country, who will come to Afghanistan? Will it be the Taliban who come to govern this country?

That is why I want to come back, even if it means cleaning the streets of Kabul. That would be a better job for me, rather than working, for example, in a restaurant in Germany.

Being a journalist is not enough; it will not solve the problems of Afghanistan. I want to work for the education of the country, because the majority of people are illiterate. That is the main problem facing many Afghans. I am really committed to come back and work for my country."  Sultan Munadi


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Questions raised over bloody raid to free British journalist in Afghanistan

Claims that British forces 'charged in' while release talks were under way

Military officials tonight defended the decision to launch a dramatic raid to rescue a British journalist from the Taliban, in which his Afghan assistant and a soldier were killed, against angry criticism in Afghanistan that the operation had been ordered while talks for his release had already begun.

Gordon Brown hailed the helicopter assault, carried out by the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines, as an act of "breathtaking heroism" and said the bravery of the soldier who was killed would not be forgotten.

Stephen Farrell, a 46-year-old New York Times reporter who had been held by the Taliban in Kunduz for four days, was freed as a result of the raid in the early hours, but the Afghan journalist working with him, Sultan Munadi, was killed.

There were reports that at least two others were killed, possibly a woman and the owner of the house, but details remain unclear.

Sources in Kabul claimed that at the time of the assault, talks were under way with the Kunduz leadership of the Taliban and a deal seemed possible.

Munadi had been allowed to call home at 10.30pm yesterday. According to his family, his captors made no threats against his life, and told his mother there were just "a few issues" to resolve before he would be set free.

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Heroism...

And at this stage no one knows who killed Sultan Munadi... Was it friendly fire or the "Taliban" kidnappers?

There are many good people working at solving the many "problems" in Afghanistan. But our desires to help need to be confronted with our desires to steal or proselytise.

It is my simpleton view that had the communist regime of the 1980s been allowed to grow, Afghanistan would not be perfect... but would be far far better off than it is now. It would not still be caught in the jaws of fanatical extremist Muslim laws and an overt corruption system to satisfy war lords. It would have a certain amount of decent education for all including women and of course have an indoctrination that I believe would eventually have mellow. A bit like Russian now... and to some extend China.

But now, the entrenched enforced backwardness of some of the population is still too great in comparison with the "open-minded", even those of the Muslim kind. Education away from the entrenched dictum is paramount...

Peace will be hard won or activated by a curse...