DHAKA: The Afghan Taliban executed six men who worked for a government programme in western Herat, one of the war-ravaged country’s most stable provinces whose small but promising private sector is driving the national economy.

The governor said on Tuesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.

The men were shot in the head late on Monday, despite efforts by governor Fazlullah Wahidi to convince the Taliban the men did not work for him.

‘We had gathered some elders to meet the Taliban to tell them that they ... worked for everyone in the country, but the Taliban killed them before they arrived for negotiations,’ Wahidi said.

The Afghan men worked for a World Bank-funded program created by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development that aims to improve project management before the pullout of most foreign troops from the country next year.

BDST: 1527 HRS, AUG 27, 2013
RoR/BSK