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Aid Worker: 'We Were Really Scared'
Thursday, November 15, 2001
(4:22 AM ET) (09:22 GMT)
The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Freed German aid worker Georg Taubmann speaks with reporters outside the German Embassy in Islamabad.
Photo Credit: Reuters.

The Taliban "wanted to take us to Kandahar, and we knew if you end up in Kandahar you would not survive there," Taubmann said.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- CNN
Eight Western aid workers, locked in Afghan prisons and fearing for their lives, were freed by anti-Taliban fighters and spirited to safety aboard U.S. helicopters Thursday.

The aid workers -- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians -- were all safely at their respective embassies and were said to be in good health.

Alistair Adam, an Australian Embassy official, said the workers -- held for more than three months after being detained by the Taliban on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity -- were tired and wanted to wash. "They're very elated to be free at last. They seem perfectly fine to me. They're rational, and they've coped very well with this situation."
(More: CNN.com News Source)
2001 © Newswire.

Dan