A senior United Nations official and the acting head of the European Union's mission in Afghanistan were expelled from the country Thursday after the government accused them of holding talks with the Taliban and giving the group cash. UN officials have denied the allegations. Analysts say the incident reflects divisions over growing efforts to neutralize the Taliban by negotiating with their tribal alliances.

The two men, whose expulsion was announced Tuesday, left Kabul Thursday morning, reports Reuters.

UN spokesman Aleem Siddique said the UN staffer had left on Thursday morning on a regular chartered flight to neighbouring Pakistan. Diplomats in Kabul confirmed the EU official, the mission's acting head, had been on the same flight.

While neither organization has formally named the pair, it is common knowledge in the capital that they are Michael Semple [with the EU] and Mervin Patterson, who have lived and worked in Afghanistan for more than a decade – even during the rule of the Taliban that was toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001.

Mr. Semple is British and Mr. Patterson Irish.

The UN, insisting that the men's expulsion is the result of a "misunderstanding," is working to bring them back to Afghanistan, reports Agence France-Presse.

"Our discussions and negotiations are ongoing with the government of Afghanistan so we can see the return of these vital members of staff," UN spokesman Aleem Siddique told AFP after the men flew out on a UN plane.

President Hamid Karzai's office has said only that the men "posed threats to the national security of Afghanistan."

But officials have said on condition of anonymity that the men are alleged to have been talking to Taliban, and perhaps even supplying them with cash and weapons.

... The Taliban reportedly denied it had links with the men.

This is the first time Mr. Karzai's government has expelled senior Western officials, and it is a "sign of the growing frustrations felt by the Afghan government and representatives of various contributing nations in Afghanistan at the lack of tangible progress in the country," reports The New York Times.

Karzai has in some ways advocated contacts with the Taliban, but he appears to want to control them. His government offers a right to return home to members of the Taliban who renounce violence and formally recognize the government. Several thousand low-level members have gone through the reconciliation process.

The Daily Telegraph in Britain had reported Wednesday that agents from MI6, the British intelligence agency, had entered secret talks with Taliban leaders, or jirgas, over the summer, despite Prime Minister Gordon Brown's avowal not to hold talks with terrorists.

Page: 1 | 2