Afghanistan orders UN, EU officials out

[tekisui]

KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan has ordered a top European Union official and a United Nations staffer to leave the country for threatening national security, government and diplomatic officials said Tuesday.

The two were declared persona non grata, apparently after allegations they had met with Taliban insurgents, a European diplomat said.

An EU spokeswoman in Brussels told AFP they were in touch with the Afghan authorities and hoped for a swift resolution to the problem.

The office of President Hamid Karzai had at first announced at a press conference that the two, said to be British and Irish, had been arrested.

Spokesman Homayun Hamidzada later told AFP the pair, whom he did not identify, had been asked to leave the country. Another official said two of their Afghan colleagues had been arrested.

"The foreign nationals have been declared persona non grata and their Afghan colleagues have been arrested and are being investigated," Hamidzada said.

He said his earlier statement that the pair were in custody was a "misunderstanding" but insisted that the government still believed they were a threat to national security.


A European diplomat said on condition of anonymity that the men had been given two days to leave, but the UN mission here said it was not aware of any deadline.

more at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071225/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestbritaineuun;_ylt=AtaUB51Mln6_m6UdjNtOj1KyFz4D