In other news from Afghanistan, three Italian aid workers have been released one week after their arrest by Afghan forces. The three work with the charity Emergency, which runs a series of hospitals in Afghanistan. They were detained on suspicion of involvement in a plot to kill a provincial governor, but the Afghan government says an investigation has since proven their innocence. One of the three, Marco Garatti, spoke out shortly after his release.

Marco Garatti: “We are very happy to be released, and we are very happy that our name, our own personal name, and the reputation of Emergency is clear and clean. This is why we are tremendously happy.”

There has been some speculation the Emergency workers were targeted for speaking out against NATO and Afghan military actions that have harmed Afghan civilians. Earlier this year, another of the three aid workers, Matteo dell’Aira, appeared on Democracy Now! during the US assault on the town of Marjah.

Matteo dell’Aira: “Ninety percent of the victims are civilians, and 30 percent of this 90 are children. But I don’t think that the war is a solution for problems. I don’t think at all this. War is not a solution; it is just a tragedy, just a tragedy. And this, we can feel this tragedy every day, twenty-four hours per day, in our emergency room in our hospital.”