Taliban urge aid groups to pull down sandbags

KABUL (AFP) - In an effort to assert control over the Afghan capital Kabul, Taliban authorities here have urged foreign aid groups to pull down sandbags from their homes and offices, aid workers told AFP.

According to foreign relief staff, sandbags give the wrong impression to locals by signalling impending rocket or jet attack on the already strife-ridden city.

'We have been asked not to put fear into Kabul's civilian population by putting up fresh sandbag defensive fixtures around our offices and homes,' revealed Warren Buttery, a representative of aid groups operating here.

Aid groups say that in the opinion of the Taliban, the construction of fresh sandbag walls represents military intelligence of which the fundamentalist Islamic movement is not aware.

'Instead we have to foster a peaceful environment within the city by pulling them down,' Buttery explained, adding that the order came from the militia's minister of foreign affairs.

Despite holding Kabul for more than 15 months, the Taliban appear to remain concerned over their failure to push opposition forces beyond rocket range of the beleaguered city.

'During our negotiations with the Taliban they appeared concerned over the image of their rule over Kabul,' one French aid worker said.

'Whenever a new lot of sandbags went up they felt we knew something that they didn't, and as a result they thought we were undermining their rule over the city,' the aid worker, who requested anonymity, added.

Recognising aid workers' complaints over a possible compromise of personal security, the Taliban authorities instead agreed that only newly-constructed walls should be pulled down. Only two walls were pulled down as a result.

While aid workers appear reluctant to sacrifice personal protection for the image of safety, the Taliban have set about attempting to invoke a picture of normality in a city gripped by more tsafety, the Taliban

Defensive bunkers outside key ministerial buildings have been demolished, while Taliban troops are now forced to patrol more openly in their puritanical Islamic quest to ensure lengthy beards for men and complete covering for women.

But some aid workers assert that heavily-sandbagged homes or offices are not there for fear of northern opposition attack, but from the recognition that the Taliban are not totally competent with their weapons.

'The danger is not from the odd anti-Taliban jet, but from the Taliban response to it,' another foreign aid worker said.

During past jet attacks by the anti-Taliban alliance - which holds the northern third of the country - falling anti-aircraft fire used against the often half-hearted bombardment has caused casualties in the city.

In response to enemy jet incursions, Taliban fighters often emerge from their homes to let off whatever firearms they have into the sky, with potentially deadly results.

'During one jet attack, falling bullets set fire to a bed in my house while the jet just sped overhead causing no damage,' a US aid worker said, referring to an attack last year.

Despite the conflicting concerns, Kabul's foreign aid community remains firmly locked away behind sandbags, while the Taliban continue to set about imposing the world's purest - and 'safest' - Islamic state.