SCF Staff Expelled from Pakistan

7 September 2012

Pakistan has ordered all foreign staff from the US-based aid agency Save the Children Fund (SCF) to leave the country after accusing the NGO of using a fake vaccination program as a cover to hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the behest of the US government. A Pakistani intelligence report has linked the aid agency to Shakeel Afridi, a convicted Pakistani doctor who they say reported to the CIA. Richard Hoagland, the US deputy ambassador to Pakistan, has denied that SCF had anything to do with the the discovery of bin Laden. SCF is one of the largest aid agencies in Burma and works under contracts with the ministries of Health and Education. It expanded its presence significantly in the Irrawaddy delta after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.