Hazara Nation

GaM
Insurgents and bandits waged deadly battle over kidnapped CBC journalist, who says she was chained and blindfolded in a small cave

A violent tug-of-war between insurgents and criminals broke out in lawless districts of Afghanistan as armed factions struggled for control of a Canadian journalist during her kidnapping ordeal, according to Taliban sources.

Mellissa Fung, 35, a reporter for CBC television, was released unharmed on Saturday, and details are starting to emerge about the men responsible for keeping her chained and blindfolded in a cave.

A Taliban spokesman denied the insurgents held her and Afghan intelligence officials hinted that her captors were criminals. But insurgents from Wardak province, west of Kabul, said their band of Taliban fighters was among the groups that staked a claim to the valuable hostage. She changed hands at least twice, they said, and at least one Taliban fighter was killed in the squabbling over her fate.


Kidnapped foreigners in Afghanistan have previously been ransomed for up to $3-million, sometimes with an exchange of prisoners. Canadian authorities have denied any ransom was paid for Ms. Fung, but The Globe and Mail has learned that at one point her captors demanded $5-million.

Ms. Fung herself made promises of cash payment, the insurgents said.

“She was telling us, ‘What do you want from me? If you want money, I will call Canada and bring you money,'” one of the Taliban involved said.

Such a prize inspired fierce competition among the motley assortment of armed groups that hold sway outside of Kabul. The insurgents' version of their struggle over Ms. Fung cannot be verified, but they spoke at risk to their own safety – and, unlike the usual self-aggrandizing anecdotes told by Taliban fighters, it's a story of how their plans failed.

Her initial kidnappers seemed to have fared even worse, succeeding only in holding her for a few days. They were apparently local bandits who jumped out of a van and grabbed Ms. Fung on the afternoon of Oct. 12, as she was returning from interviews at a camp for displaced people on the west side of Kabul.

Haji Abdul Wahab, a tribal elder who said he represents about half the 750 families at the camp, said he remembered the young Canadian journalist who visited with a driver and translator. Investigators visited the camp the next day to ask questions, the tribal elder said, but he had no information about who kidnapped her.

But authorities may have known Ms. Fung's approximate location in the early days of her captivity, because her kidnappers were allowing her to speak on a mobile phone. It's well known in Afghanistan that international forces have sophisticated means of tracking phone signals.

The Canadian Press has reported that elite commandos were so confident of her location that they planned a rescue mission, but aborted the plan on Oct. 15 because of a U.S. raid to rescue another hostage in a separate kidnapping.

That date coincides with the day the Taliban first heard that the criminals who captured Ms. Fung were growing nervous and planning to move her from Laghman province near the capital city to a location in Wardak province farther away from international forces. The Taliban said they intercepted Ms. Fung along with the original kidnappers, although they later released the bandits.

The insurgents say they took Ms. Fung to a hideout in a mountainous part of Wardak that is largely beyond government control. The province is also influenced by Hizb-i-Islami, a militia allied with the Taliban, and a local Hizb-i-Islami commander who spoke some English appears to have helped interpret for Ms. Fung.

She was initially eager to talk, but the insurgents said she later became reluctant to speak as she showed signs of worry about the situation.

“There was bombing and fighting near her,” a Taliban fighter said.

“She became very unhappy, very depressed, full of anxiety.”

By contrast, Ms. Fung seemed calm as she described her captivity in a videotaped conversation this weekend with Amrullah Saleh, chief of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service.

Ms. Fung said she was not abused, but placed in a small underground cave, connected to the surface by a tunnel.

“The cave was very, very small,” she said.

“Could you stand in the cave?” Mr. Saleh asked.

“Barely, and I'm short.” At times she was blindfolded, she said, and her hands and feet were bound with chains. Her captors used the restraints in the final week, she said, when they seemed to be growing worried.

“When did they start to become nervous and angry?” Mr. Saleh asked.

“A week ago,” Ms. Fung said.

“That's exactly when we found out,” Mr. Saleh said.

That time frame also fits roughly with the Taliban's description of when they lost control of Ms. Fung. The Taliban said they argued with local bandits about how to divide the spoils from any ransom, and couldn't agree about whether to ask for only cash or include a demand for prisoners.

The insurgents said a band of gunmen loyal to an ethnic Hazara warlord named Farotan attacked the Taliban, killing one Taliban fighter and injuring two, including an insurgent commander who escaped with minor injuries to his foot.

The Hazara warlord had fought the Soviet occupation in the 1980s as part of the Hizb-i-Islami militia, but now operates as an independent strongman.

It's not clear what happened next, whether Farotan gained control of Ms. Fung or only chased Taliban fighters from the area.

Afghan security forces were detaining many suspects as part of their investigation, and authorities believe that process was instrumental in Ms. Fung's eventual freedom.

Two of the people swept up in the dragnet were the CBC's translator, Shakoor, and his brother who was working as a driver for Ms. Fung.

John Cruickshank, publisher of CBC News, told a news conference this weekend that the Canadian embassy has informed Afghan authorities that Shakoor is a local employee who has done good work in the past. A well-known figure in Kabul media circles, Shakoor has served the CBC for years. He remains in the custody of Afghan investigators who are notorious for torturing suspects.

“We are concerned about him,” Mr. Cruickshank said. “That's one of our next tasks.”