Straits Times, Singapore, 13 November 1997

Unicef worker caned

Followers of the radical Islamic Taleban detained two male Afghan employees of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Jalalabad last Saturday and gave one of them 10 lashes before a crowd of onlookers, Unicef said on Tuesday.

Unicef, which has a US$12 million (S$19 million) budget for its 1997 programme in Afghanistan, said that it has about 100 staff, including approximately 80 local employees, in the country. But about 40 of the staff are based in Peshawar, across the border in Pakistan. -- AFP.