Afghan pilots' plea for help

Flight crews from the Afghan airline, Ariana, have issued a public appeal, saying United Nations sanctions are threatening their livelihood.

Under the sanctions, Ariana is prohibited from making international flights, and its pilots say their lack of regular work is threatening the validity of their licenses. Pilots who do not fly for ninety days have to go through a retraining procedure unavailable inside Afghanistan. The Ariana flight crew say the airline has always remained neutral through decades of civil war in Afghanistan, and the sanctions are causing the worst hardship they have ever faced.

The United Nations sanctions were imposed on Afghanistan to try to force the Taleban authorities to surrender the fugitive Saudi militant, Osama Bin Laden, who is accused of involvement in international terrorist activities.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service