Western diplomats seeking access to eight foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity began a fourth frustrating day in Kabul on Friday saying they would not leave as advised by the ruling Taliban.
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German diplomat Helmut Landes (R-front) and Australian consul Alistair Adams (L) leaving the Afghan Foreign Ministry in Kabul yesterday.
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"We will stay here as long as we can," said Islamabad-based Australian consul Alistair Adams. "We don't know about the extension of our visas but we'll try that as well."
The Taliban have denied consular access to four Germans, two Australians and two Americans from the German-based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International who were arrested two weeks ago along with 16 Afghan colleagues.
Yesterday, the purist Islamist movement said Mr Adams and his colleagues from the German and US embassies in Islamabad had completed their mission and should leave Afghanistan.
"We said to them to monitor the process of the investigation from our embassy in Islamabad as we and they did not have any thing new in this (process)," the head of the Taliban's consulate department, Abdur Rahman Hotak, told a news conference.
The three envoys, who arrived in Kabul on Tuesday, were granted one week visas that expire on August 21.
The only minor success scored by the diplomats was an undertaking made by Hotak to ensure personal items, including mail, would be handed over to the detainees after checks by the authorities.