ABSTRACT
On 5 August 2010, ten members of a medical team from the International Assistance Mission (IAM), a Christian aid organisation, were killed in Afghanistan. The group comprised six Americans, a German, a Briton and two Afghanis. Prior to the attack, in 44 years of operations, only four international staff of IAM (and no local staff) had been killed while on duty in Afghanistan.1 The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, accusing the victims of spying and proselytising Christianity – accusations that were denied by IAM, the United States’ government and relatives of the victims.2 Following the attack, the managing director of a British organisation, Afghanaid, described the incident as the ‘worst attack on humanitarian workers in 30 years’. She added that ‘[i]t will have very serious implications and make us revisit our security protocols. It cannot just be business as usual.’3
