A journalist who was held captive by the Taliban in 2001 has condemned the US special forces who may have accidentally killed British aid worker Linda Norgrove during a rescue mission in Afghanistan.
Speaking before a public lecture at Dundee University on Monday evening, Yvonne Ridley said the Americans had once again shown a “complete disregard for human life.”
An investigation was launched on Monday into the death on Friday of Ms Norgrove (36), who was employed by US aid group Development Alternatives Inc (DAI).
US officials initially said Ms Norgrove died after her captors detonated a bomb vest as American troops attempted to free her from militant kidnappers on Friday night. However, General David Petraeus, the American commander of the NATO-led Isaf force in Afghanistan, told Prime Minister David Cameron in a telephone call on Monday morning that a second viewing of the video recordings of the incident suggested Ms Norgrove might have been the victim of “friendly fire.”
Ms Ridley hit out at the actions of the American troops. She herself was smuggled from Pakistan into Afghanistan in September 2001 when she was working as a reporter for the Sunday Express. Her cover was blown when she fell off her donkey in front of a Taliban soldier near Jalalabad, exposing the contraband camera hidden underneath her robe.
She was incarcerated for 10 days in Kabul, where she was interrogated without being allowed a phone call. The news of Ms Norgrove’s death brought back painful memories to Ms Ridley of her own capture.
“I’m absolutely horrified by the kidnapping and the outcome,” she said. “It reminded me when I was locked up in Kabul with half a dozen other western women.
“While we all wanted freedom we dreaded the thought of the Americans mounting any sort of a rescue mission because their reputation is disastrous in these sort of rescue operations, from rescuing individuals to groups.
“I still remember clearly when Jimmy Carter was president, the disastrous rescue attempts of the hostages in Iran.”
Ms Ridley was adamant that Ms Norgrove could have been released, had the American forces held fire and waited for diplomatic actions to prevail.
“It’s easy for me to sit here in Dundee and cast a critical eye, and I’m not privy to the exact workings of what went on, but my understanding from local Afghans is that a few more days of negotiations could have resulted in a happier or more peaceful outcome,” she said.
“Once again the Americans have shown a complete disregard for human life.
“The truth will come out and it’s now clear it wasn’t a suicide jacket as originally said. I’m very sorry for the family.”
Describing Ms Norgrove’s death as a tragedy, Mr Cameron promised to do everything he possibly could to give her family certainty about how she died.
The Prime Minister personally informed her family about the “deeply distressing development” in a phone call to her father John.
He told reporters the initial reports of how the hostage died were “deeply regrettable” but were made in good faith on the basis of the information available.
Mr Cameron praised the American troops and said it would have been “quite unorthodox” for him to overrule commanders on the ground and insist on British special forces undertaking the rescue attempt in an area controlled by US forces.
“Linda’s death is a tragedy for her family and those who worked alongside her in Afghanistan,” Mr Cameron said. “She was a dedicated professional doing a job she loved in a country she loved.
“I am clear that the best chance of saving Linda’s life was to go ahead, recognising that any operation was fraught with risk for all those involved and success was by no means guaranteed.”
Speaking from his home on the Isle of Lewis after the telephone call with the Prime Minister, Mr Norgrove said, “We are not saying anything to the press at the moment. We might issue a statement in another day or two, we’re not certain, but now we are not saying anything.”
Ms Norgrove’s former head teacher Ewan Mackinnon said the possibility of her having been killed by her would-be rescuers would be “even more tragic and even more heart-breaking for her parents.”
Originally from Sutherland, Ms Norgrove was working in the east of Afghanistan when she was seized by militants in Kunar province on September 26.