Baylor graduates accused of preaching Christianity

09/25/2001

By GREGG JONES / The Dallas Morning News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – In Afghanistan, they are waiting for the bombs to start falling. In Pakistan, they are waiting for the Afghan refugees to start flooding across the border. And in the United States, they are waiting for the retribution to begin.

But for Nancy Cassell, the countdown to U.S. military strikes against Osama bin Laden and his Taliban hosts in Afghanistan is a deeply personal agony.

Ms. Cassell is waiting for her daughter, Waco aid worker Dayna Curry, 29, to walk out of a jail in the Afghan capital of Kabul and make her way to freedom. It is an ordeal she shares in Islamabad with the parents of Heather Mercer, 24, also of Waco, and six other detained aid workers.

Ms. Curry and Ms. Mercer, both Baylor University graduates, are believed to be the only Americans still in Taliban-controlled territory as the United States is poised to launch military strikes against the radical Islamic regime. The eight aid workers were arrested in early August on charges of preaching Christianity, a crime punishable by death under Afghanistan's Taliban regime.

"The sad part is they're innocent," said Ms. Cassell, 57. "They weren't trying to convert other people."

All eight were working for Shelter Now, a Christian relief agency based in Germany.

At Antioch Community Church in Waco, where Ms. Curry and Ms. Mercer became friends, assistant pastor Danny Mulkey said the two women "were trying to share their love of Jesus through their humanitarian work."

Ms. Curry was a social worker with the Waco school district before moving to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, two years ago. She was deeply affected by the poverty and suffering she saw there after three decades of civil war and social upheaval, Ms. Cassell said.

"She had a heart for people who are down and out," Ms. Cassell said.

Earlier this year, Ms. Curry returned to the United States for a few months. But she couldn't wait to return to Afghanistan, where she lived "a lot simpler life than in America," her mother said.

During her first stay, Ms. Curry worked as a nutritionist. And despite the poor infrastructure of Afghanistan, she was able to stay in regular contact with her mother by using a satellite phone to send e-mails.

She went back in March, teaching job skills to street children so they wouldn't have to beg. Ms. Curry no longer had access to the satellite phone, and so she was able to send e-mails only about once a week, her mother said.

In an e-mail in late July, she told her mother that "she had some stomach problem and she said she had some things she needed to do and didn't want to be sick."

A week later, Ms. Cassell was notified that Ms. Curry had been arrested in Kabul, along with Ms. Mercer and the other Shelter Now workers.

Ms. Cassell flew to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, on Aug. 20, expecting to arrive in time for her daughter's release. But the Taliban refused to budge, and on Aug. 27, the families were allowed to travel to Afghanistan to see their loved ones.

Ms. Cassell said she found her daughter in good spirits.

"I was covered up in this scarf and so she said, 'Mom, you look cute,' " said Ms. Cassell. "She really was doing extremely well."

Ms. Curry even spoke about not leaving Afghanistan when she eventually was released, as she was convinced she would be, her mother said.

The trial of the eight aid workers was underway when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The families left Afghanistan two days later, after the Taliban said the safety of foreigners couldn't be guaranteed.

"It was hard," said Ms. Cassell. "I didn't want to leave, but realistically, there wasn't anything else I could do."

Last week, a Pakistani delegation sent to persuade the Taliban leadership to surrender Mr. bin Laden – the man described by U.S. officials as the prime suspect in the U.S. terror attacks – visited the detainees. The Pakistanis returned with letters from her daughter and the others, Ms. Cassell said.

Ms. Curry tried to reassure her mother in her letter.

"She said the place [where they are now being held] was pretty nice, and the people were kind," Ms. Cassell said.

If the United States does attack Afghanistan, Ms. Cassell says she doesn't believe that any harm will come to her daughter and her friends.

"They're in the city of Kabul, and I don't think that the United States is going to bomb Kabul, where the civilians are," she said. "The only thing I think about is if [the Taliban] just let them loose without escorting them out of the country."

As for retribution from the Taliban for any U.S. attacks, she said: "If they have kept them this long without hurting them, I don't think they'll hurt them now."

While attention has shifted from the plight of the detained aid workers to the expected U.S. military strikes, the families have worried that the cause of their loved ones might be forgotten. They were heartened that President Bush mentioned the detainees in his address to Congress last week.

"I think I have the greatest daughter in the world," Ms. Cassell said. "If there's one person other than Jesus that I would want to be like, it would be my daughter. She's very special."