Relief turned to confusion last night as diplomats digested conflicting statements from top Taliban officials over the fate of eight foreign aid workers detained in Afghanistan.
Hopes were raised early yesterday when a report in a Taliban-controlled daily said the foreigners, detained last week for allegedly preaching Christianity, were not facing execution as had been feared.
The Shariat Daily yesterday quoted the Islamic militia's deputy justice minister as saying the foreign aid workers would be jailed for up to 10 days and expelled within 48 hours of their release, meaning some could be free as early as Monday.
The Shariat Daily added, though, that Sharia or Islamic law would apply to the 16 Afghan aid workers arrested with the foreigners, meaning they could still be facing death.
An Australian embassy spokesman in neighbouring Pakistan said the Taliban still had not issued visas to diplomats wanting to visit the detainees.
A US embassy spokesman said it would be "a welcome development" if the report was confirmed.
But the Taliban Foreign Minister, Mr Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, later threw the case into confusion. "It is premature to say what kind of punishment can be given to the detainees," the minister told reporters in his first public comments since the two Americans, two Australians and four Germans were arrested along with 16 Afghan colleagues.
"After the completion of the investigations it will be clear how serious this crime was, how it had been planned and managed, what were the reasons for it and who was behind it," he said.
Confusion has arisen out of two overlapping Taliban decrees, one issued in January and one in June, which fail to clarify whether foreigners can expect the death penalty for trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity.
The Taliban has refused to spell out the charges against the aid workers, employees of the German-based humanitarian group Shelter Now.
Decree 14, announced in early June, contains a code of conduct for foreigners which forbids proselytising and sets maximum punishment at up to 10 days' jail plus expulsion.
But an earlier decree from the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in January said anyone found trying to convert Afghans to the "abolished religion", or Christianity, could be executed.