Afghanistan
Taliban behead Afghan reporterPosted Apr 20 2007
Ajmal Naqshbandi, an Afghan freelance reporter and translator, was beheaded by members of the Taliban April 8 after the Afghan government refused to free more insurgents. The government released five prisoners two weeks earlier in exchange for Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was kidnapped March 5 with Naqshbandi and driver Sayed Agha. A Taliban spokesman said they killed Naqshbandi because the government did not meet the group's demands. Agha was beheaded in front of Mastrogiacomo shortly after the abduction. According to the BBC, some Afghans are outraged because the government conceded to the enemy's demands and did so to save a foreigner but not an Afghan. The Taliban still holds five government medics, two French aid workers and three Afghan colleagues. “[Mr Mastrogiacomo] was an extraordinary situation and won't be repeated again,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the BBC. “No more deals with no one and with no other country.”