Afghan humanitarian flight 'banned'

Many Afghan children wait for medical treatment in Germany

By Kate Clark in Kabul

The Taleban has accused the United Nations and the German Government of banning the national Afghan airline, Ariana, from flying a group of sick Afghan children back home from Germany.

The children were taken there for treatment by the German charity Peace Village.

UN sanctions ban Ariana from making international flights except for humanitarian purposes.

At the moment, there are about 60 Afghan children waiting to go to Germany and a similar number waiting to go home.

Transport issue

Dozens of severely sick and injured children are flown from Afghanistan to Germany each year for treatment.

The Taleban wants a ban on Ariana lifted

The argument centres on who should transport them.

Ariana Airlines was given special permission from the UN to fly the sick children to Germany in February.

The Taleban say that leaving them stranded is a human-rights abuse. They said the German government told them it was under pressure from an unnamed country to refuse the flight.

In Berlin, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said the UN Sanctions Committee made all the decisions.

She said it only allowed the February flight because of the preparation made by Peace Village before sanctions were announced.

The UN had made it clear at the time, she said, that this would be the last Ariana flight.

Aternative route

Peace Village has organized an alternative airline. The German Government says it has been seeking Taleban permission for this airline to transport the children but so far, there has been no response.

Sick Afghan children may have to use an alternative route

For the Taleban, it is important to see the national Afghan airline fly to Europe. There is national sovereignty at stake - and income for a state-owned company which has seen its foreign flights banned.

But apart from these considerations, the Taleban believes UN sanction rules have been broken. It says Ariana should be allowed to make this humanitarian flight.