November 19, 2001
Baylor graduates free at last after rescue from Taliban
___By John Hall
___Staff Writer
___U.S. Special Forces helicopters rescued eight international aid workers--including two Baylor University graduates--who had been detained for more than three months in Kabul, Afghanistan, by the Taliban government.
___After the Nov. 14 rescue, the international aid workers were reunited with family members in Islamabad, Pakistan.
___In the first of a series of events that was deemed "better than any Hollywood movie" by one of the Baylor graduates, the workers were freed from a container in Ghazni, a town southwest of Kabul, by anti-Taliban forces.
See more: Detainees thank God at press conference
___The prisoners were welcomed with hugs from the local people, according to a New York Times report. U.S. troops, who reportedly had been notifiedof the release by anti-Taliban forces on the ground, then found the group in a field about 50 miles southwest of Kabul.
A REPORTER for the Times of London files a story from the gymnasium floor of Baylor University's McLane Student Life Center. Baylor was hosting the international media during Russian President Vladamir Putin's visit to Crawford, which turned out to coincide with the release of American aid workers from Afghanistan.
___When the anticipated helicopters did not arrive at first, the women in the group gave an identifying signal amid the darkness by removing their head scarves and lighting them into a fire.
___Baylor graduates Dayna Curry, 30, and Heather Mercer, 24, were reported to be healthy upon their arrival in Pakistan.
___News of their release came just in time for a praise-filled Wednesday night service at Antioch Community Church in Waco, where the two women are members.
___The news also broke just minutes before Baylor University was to host a reception for more than 100 international journalists working on the Waco campus to cover a meeting between President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Putin was visiting the Bush ranch near Crawford, the U.S. State Department had established a media center at Baylor's McLane Student Life Center.
___The timing of the events thrust the Texas Baptist school into the international spotlight in an unexpected way, with media outlets such as Tass and Al Jazeera interviewing President Robert Sloan about how the Christian faith would motivate two young university graduates to work in Afghanistan.
___The women were arrested Aug. 3 in Kabul and apparently charged with giving Afghans humanitarian supplies in exchange for conversion to Christianity, Jimmy Seibert has said. Conversion by Muslims was not allowed in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
___The dramatic rescue came two days after the Northern Alliance seized Kabul, as much of the Taliban's forces retreated to the southwest toward the city of Kandahar, and less than a week after reports that the Taliban had indefinitely suspended the aid workers' trial.
___According to various press accounts, Taliban officials had taken the detainees with them as they fled Kabul, placing them in a locked steel container. This story was confirmed by their pastor in Waco.
___German detainee Georg Taubmann told the New York Times they had been taken out of the capital city by retreating Taliban forces heading toward their stronghold of Kandahar.
___"Just before Kabul fell, we were so excited to get out, we heard already that troops were coming in," he told the Times. "And then the Taliban came in and took us away, took us in vehicles and wanted to take us to Kandahar, and we knew that if we ended up in Kandahar we would probably not survive there."
___Upon arrival in Ghazni, about 50 miles southwest of Kabul, the detainees were locked in a metal container for the night, the Times reported.
___The next morning, Tuesday, they were moved to a Ghazni jail, Taubmann said. He called it a "terrible place."
___They arrived at the jail about 9 a.m., just as an anti-Taliban attack on the city began. Within an hour, there was an anti-Taliban uprising in the town. And within two hours, Northern Alliance forces flung open the prison doors, Taubmann told the Times, adding that the aid workers initially feared it was the Taliban coming back to get them.
___President Bush expressed great pride in the way the military handled the operation and said he looked forward to speaking with the two Americans and their families once they return to the States.
___"I'm really proud of our armed forces, and I'm also thankful for the folks in Afghanistan who helped with this rescue," Bush said. "There have been a lot of people praying for the eight innocent folks. Particularly interesting for me, since I'm here in Crawford and the two Americans were from Waco. And I know a lot of the Waco citizens have been in deep prayer that they be rescued, and their prayers were answered."
___Members of Antioch Church, who had conducted an around-the-clock prayer vigil since the women were arrested, exuded excitement when they heard the news, holding a two-hour praise and worship service during which some members yelled praises to God, others danced in joy and others cried in their exuberance.
___"We are thankful for a God who answers prayer and for all those who prayed for them," said Pastor Seibert.
___At the same time, Baylor President Sloan was addressing the international media, where he said: "The entire Baylor family rejoices with Heather and Dayna, their families and the scores of Christians--including Baylor students, alumni, faculty and staff--around the world who have been praying for their release. We are thankful those prayers have been answered and that Heather and Dayna are being reunited with their families. We look forward to welcoming them back to Waco soon."
___Seibert said he would fly Nov. 15 to meet the women in Islamabad. He said the women will go through a debriefing process in central Europe, where they will meet with a series of counselors to discuss what happened in Afghanistan during their detainment. Then they will travel to their hometowns shortly after Thanksgiving and then return to Waco.
___The Americans do not know the worldwide exposure their detainment has received, Seibert said, and have remained "just simple people who love Jesus."
___Seibert believes their situation has done much more than focus Americans' attention on the two women.
___"It raised the awareness of the need for prayer for missionaries around the world," he said. "It raised our awareness of a need for a Savior. A need for a stand."
___
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