Charity honoring Scots aid worker now working in Taliban-held areas

Linda Norgrove was working on humanitarian projects for an international development company when she was kidnapped by Taliban rebels in 2010.

The 36-year-old died during a disastrous attempt by US Navy SEALS to rescue her.

Her parents, John and Lorna, later established the Linda Norgrove Foundation which has gone on to distribute more than £1 million in support for women and children affected by the war in Afghanistan.

In a new message to the Foundation’s supporters, the Norgroves have confirmed that the organisation has now taken the decision to deliver support projects in some of the country’s Taliban-controlled areas.

Writing in the foundation’s December newsletter, the couple conceded that “inevitably, these changes won’t suit everyone”, and offered to remove people unhappy at the shift in focus from their mailing list.

However, the couple said the move was made in order to ensure support reaches women and children outside Kabul, where much of the foundation’s work has been centred.

Their message adds: “Most poor Afghans don’t live in cities but, as the government has lost control of many rural areas, it has become increasingly difficult to access those in need of our help.

“Regrettably, an increasing number of our projects have been delivered in the capital, Kabul.

“To address this, we have made a conscious decision to start working in places where the Taliban are the ‘de facto’ government.

“We are not a government or a political organisation – we will help women and children irrespective of their government.”

They add: “This doesn’t mean we will not resist the attitudes to women the Taliban hold, but we will continue to help women from poor rural backgrounds however the situation develops.

“Adapt we must.”

The shift comes after it emerged that the militant commander said to be behind their daughter’s kidnap had surrendered and been pardoned after agreeing to give up his fight against the Afghan government.

Mullah Abdul Basir is reported to have been freed after being told he would not face kidnap charges.

Linda, who grew up on a croft in Lewis, was working for American aid contractor DAI when she and three Afghan locals were seized in the volatile Kunar province in September 2010.

Her Taliban kidnappers offered to release her in exchange for a series of demands, including the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, the release of insurgent prisoners from Kunar and the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a 38-year-old neuroscientist dubbed “Lady al-Qaeda” by US newspapers.

Siddiqui had been jailed for 86 years by a New York court for the attempted murder of US agents and soldiers who were trying to interrogate her in Afghanistan.

Linda’s three Afghan colleagues were released after a week of negotiations.

However, 12 days after her capture, news reports backed by then foreign secretary William Hague suggested she had been killed by an explosion set off by one of her captors during a rescue attempt by special services.

It later emerged she had been accidentally killed by a grenade thrown by one of her would-be rescuers while her captors lay either dead or dying.

Linda’s grieving parents established The Linda Norgrove Foundation which has gone on to support a number of projects, including a home in Kabul for children with disabilities, a school for poor children and widows, and university scholarships.

It has also supported smaller projects which have included equipping 80 women with the means to generate income through silkworm rearing, spinning and weaving, the Ascend programme which inspires young women to climb mountains, and two projects in the remote Wakhan valley, one for the planting of trees, small orchards and kitchen gardens, another teaching basic hygiene to remote pastoralists and nomads.

However, writing in the latest newsletter, Mr and Mrs Norgrove, who are both now in their seventies, highlight the changing face of Afghanistan and the difficulties of finding appropriate projects to support.

They write: “Nine years ago, Afghanistan’s ‘reconstruction’ was progressing fast, probably too fast, but things appeared to be improving.

“Now, even though need has increased, we find it more difficult to find good new projects.

“Many NGOs have pulled out because of deteriorating security, and it’s become more difficult to monitor projects on the ground.

“Or maybe, with nine years of experience, we’re more discriminating.

“Change is inevitable and the changes that we have to deal with both at home and in Afghanistan are huge. But we are totally committed to continuing our work.”

A key focus of their work has been a university scholarship programme which has been expanded and now sponsors 106 women who are studying for degrees.

However, they highlight the difficulties of monitoring projects beyond the relative safety of Kabul such as in Ghazni, where earlier this month 23 Afghan security personnel were killed by Taliban attackers and where the foundation supports women in nursing and midwifery courses.

“Our programme managers felt it was just too dangerous for them to visit Ghazni city where sometimes ‘Taliban walk around with guns’,” it states.

The couple added how they instead met project participants outside the city after first taking a winding route to their destination dressed in burkas and without carrying any electronic devices to avoid raising suspicions.

However, it adds: “We are determined to try to help women outside the capital, in places where armed conflict is a fact of life and where many parents are understandably reluctant to let their daughters travel, limiting their choice to local institutions.”

The couple’s statement also draws attention to the challenges of raising funds in a small area of the Outer Hebrides and their decision to scale back funding many smaller projects in Afghanistan because of the level of administrative effort and oversight required.

Earlier this year, the Norgroves revealed they had found a novel new way to raise new funds by renovating an old byre to create an upmarket holiday cottage, with income from lets going towards the running costs of the foundation.