Al-Jazeera Employees Arrested In Afghanistan

Demonstration against Al-Jazeera in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, 14 December 2005 (RFE/RL) 1 January 2006 -- The Arab television network Al-Jazeera says U.S. forces in Afghanistan have arrested three of its employees.

The Qatar-based television station quotes U.S. forces as saying the network's Kabul correspondent, Waliullah Shaheen, together with cameraman Nasir Hashimi and their driver Mahmood Agha, had been handed over to Afghan police after their arrest today.

The U.S. statement said the team had been filming sensitive locations near the headquarters of the U.S.-led troops operating in Afghanistan.

Al-Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief, Samar Allawi, said the station had yet to receive a "clear answer" as to why the men were arrested.

(AFP/Reuters)