On August 3 , 2001 , the then-ruling Taliban police raided the Kabul offices of Shelter Now and arrested two Americans , Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry . On or about August 5 , the Taliban arrested two German women . The group 's German director , Georg Taubmann , was also arrested when he arrived at the women 's home . Over the following days , the total number of aid workers arrested in connection with their work for Shelter Now International would reach 24 . The captives included four Germans ( Georg Taubmann , Margrit Stebnar , Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf ) , two Americans ( Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry ) , two Australians ( Diana Thomas and Peter Bunch ) , and 16 Afghans . The workers were accused of attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity , which is a crime in Afghanistan subject to severe punishment . The Taliban accused the aid workers of being in possession of Christian literature , Bibles , and thousands of Christian videos and audio tapes . The Christian aid workers were accused of exposing the Muslim workers to this material . Mohammad Salim Haqqani , the Taliban Deputy Minister for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue , emphasized the fact that the group had Bibles in Pashtu and Dari , even though the Christian workers were not proficient in these languages . The situation became dire when , less than six weeks later , the September 11 attacks occurred . Soon after the attacks , it became clear that the Saudi national and leader of the salafi jihadist organization Al-Qaeda , Osama Bin Laden , was behind the attacks . Bin Laden had resided in Afghanistan for some time preceding the attacks , where he led various jihadist training camps and oversaw Al-Qaeda 's terrorist activity around the world . The Taliban refused demands by the United States that Bin Laden be extradited , citing the nonnegotiable Pashtunwali command that guests be protected from their enemies at all costs . As a result , the continued imprisonment of the 8 western aid workers became a point of serious tension in the conflict that was to follow 9/11 . In mid-August , the Taliban looted Shelter Now factories and stole approximately $ 45,000 worth of equipment , including a Toyota pickup truck , two generators , several cement mixers , and manufacturing tools . On November 15 , the eight westerners were freed from Taliban captivity near Ghazni by forces from the Northern Alliance . The workers were then airlifted by U.S. Special Forces helicopters to Islamabad , Pakistan
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
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