in urban areas, so the threat from the Taliban was minimal. But many Christian converts started fleeing Afghanistan (mostly to India) around 2005, fearing their identities might become public. A 2015 study estimated some 3,300 believers in Christ from a Muslim background living in the country. Under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Constitution of Afghanistan allowed the practice of religions other than Islam, as long as it was within the legal framework of Islamic laws and did not threaten the Islamic religion. However Muslims who converted to Christianity were subjected to societal and official pressure, which may lead to confiscation of property, imprisonment, or death. "Christian minority has never been known or registered here,” Inamullah Samangani, a Taliban spokesman told VOA in 2022. He further added “There are only Sikh and Hindu religious minority in Afghanistan that are completely free and safe to practice their religion,” Anti-Christian incidents since 2001 On 5 August 2001, 24 workers for the NGO Shelter Now International were arrested by the ruling Taliban. The charity built homes for refugees and the poor. 16 were Afghans and 8 were westerners. The workers were eventually freed after a rescue mission in November 2001. The westerners had been six women and two men, from Germany, America, and Australia. The staff of Shelter Now had been accused of converting Afghan Muslims to Christianity. In 2002, Afghanistan adopted a new press law that contained a sanction against the publication of "matters contrary to the principles of Islam or offensive to other religions and sects." In 2003, Mullah Dadullah (), a top Taliban commander, said that they would continue to fight until the "Jews and Christians, all foreign crusaders" were expelled from Afghanistan. In January 2004, Afghanistan adopted a new constitution that provides for the freedom of non-Muslim religious groups to exercise their faith and declares that the state will abide by the UN Charter, international treaties, international conventions, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the constitution does not extend explicit protections for the right to freedom of religion or belief to every individual, particularly to individual Muslims, the overwhelming majority of Afghanistan's population, or minority religious communities. In 2005 President Hamid Karzai showed his respects by attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II. In February 2006, an Afghan Christian, Abdul Rahman () (born 1965) was arrested in February 2006 and threatened with the death penalty for