London - A British journalist held by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on suspicion of spying sneaked into the country disguised as an Afghan woman to report the plight of refugees, her editor said yesterday.
Ms Yvonne Ridley (43), the chief reporter of the Sunday Express was dressed in the all-enveloping Afghan burqa, which flows almost to the ground and has a mesh over the eyes, when she was detained on Friday with her two guides near Jalalabad, about 15 km from the Pakistan border.
Ms Ridley's editor, Mr Martin Townsend, said the newspaper's executive agreed with her that she should cross the Pakistan border in disguise after she was unable to obtain a visa.