InfoAnda - Controversy deepens over Afghan hostage rescue

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: Controversy deepens over Afghan hostage rescue AFP - Saturday, September 12 KABUL (AFP) - - Recriminations over a bloody raid that freed a New York Times reporter from Taliban captors in Afghanistan deepened on Friday with both Britain and the newspaper defending their actions. ADVERTISEMENT British-Irish journalist Stephen Farrell escaped unharmed in Wednesday's dramatic commando operation, but his Afghan colleague Sultan Munadi was killed in the crossfire along with a British soldier, and an Afghan woman and child. Munadi's brother said negotiators were on the brink of winning their release and slammed the raid as "thoughtless" despite insistence from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband that it was "the only way" to secure their freedom. "There was no need for this operation at all," Munadi's brother Mohammad Osman told AFP ahead of a Kabul memorial service for the Afghan reporter. "The ICRC (the International Committee of the Red Cross), the United Nations, tribal elders were all involved in optimistic negotiations for their release, when all of sudden this raid took place," he added. "This was a totally thoughtless raid resulting in the martyrdom of Sultan." Interviewed by the BBC, Miliband refused to confirm that negotiations were well advanced with the Taliban. Farrell and Munadi were snatched on Saturday in the northern province of Kunduz as they interviewed residents about a NATO air strike that Afghan officials say killed and wounded civilians. "We looked at all the options -- and I stress all the options. We had full information in front of us from when we were first briefed on this at the weekend," Miliband said. "We came to the conclusion that the only way in which we could secure the successful release of both hostages was through the military action that was taken," he told the BBC. Colleagues of the well-respected Munadi are outraged that his bullet-riddled body was abandoned at the scene. "I am confused, lost and upset about the way the Western people sometimes value us. It's like our blood is not red," said Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary, formerly with the BBC World Service, in an email. Hundreds of people are expected to attend a prayer ceremony at a Kabul mosque later Friday to pay their respects to Munadi. His father Karban Mohammed said Munadi telephoned him 90 minutes before he was shot to say he was confident they would soon be freed. "Sultan was sure of that. My son's words brought me so much happiness I felt maybe I could sleep for the first time in many nights," Mohammed told Britain's Independent newspaper. "Yes, I feel very angry about what happened." Reaction to Farrell's release mirrored anger that many Afghans expressed over the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist in 2007. His interpreter was beheaded and his driver killed. "I cannot blame one particular person for this," said Munadi's brother. "It is everyone -- the government, the New York Times, Taliban and finally the main responsibility for his death lies with British forces who launched this unnecessary operation." New York Times executive editor Bill Keller hit back at "simplistic" criticism that the reckless pursuit of news by Farrell caused the kidnapping. "That Sultan and the soldier lost their lives in this episode is heartbreaking, and it's human nature to look for someone to blame, but to blame the journalist is simplistic at best," Keller said in an email to AFP. "Steve consulted with American and Afghan colleagues and, like other journalists who made the same trip, concluded that it could be done safely. "It was an important story -- a report of scores of dead innocents at a very sensitive period in the politics of Afghanistan -- that could not be verified by phone calls or the Afghan rumour mill. "It called out for on-the-scene reporting if possible," he wrote. Farrell and Munadi were the second New York Times team kidnapped in Afghanistan in less than a year. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Asia Pacific Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humansAP - 1 hour 31 minutes ago Swede held in Pakistan on terror linksAP - 2 hours 43 minutes ago Thousands of Maoist supporters protest in NepalAP - 2 hours 51 minutes ago AP NewsAlertAP - 2 hours 55 minutes ago China opposes Dalai Lama trip to disputed India stateReuters - Saturday, September 12 Most Popular – Asia Pacific Viewed Britain apologises to WWII code-breaker hero Greenspan says further financial crisis 'inevitable' Refurbished Hubble reveals cosmic wonder Storms delay Discovery landing: NASA Giant statues reveal red hat secrets: study View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. 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