Ex-chief of Afghanistan delayed at Orlando airport

ORLANDO -- A former president of Afghanistan was removed from a trans-Atlantic flight when security screeners in Florida mistakenly interpreted a comment he made as a threat, the FBI said Sunday.

Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was pulled out of a boarding line for a Virgin Atlantic flight to London on Friday for security officials to conduct an additional search of his baggage, FBI agent Wendy Evans said.

Mojaddedi assumed he was being singled out because he was wearing traditional Afghan clothing and his wife was wearing a veil, Orlando police Officer Charles Stewart said.

Airport security screeners said they heard him speak about an Islamic liberation organization and say, "I know you're looking for a bomb," and "God will revenge this," according to police. The comments were made in English but misinterpreted by the screeners, neither of whom spoke English as a first language, Evans said.

"It was not an actual threat but a language miscommunication problem," Evans said.

Mojaddedi and his wife, Nadera, were in the United States to attend a wedding in Jacksonville, police said.

The airline rebooked the couple with first class seats on a Saturday flight, airline spokesman John Riordan said Sunday.

"Post 9-11, everybody is being extra vigilant, and sometimes things get misconstrued," Riordan said.

Mojaddedi was the first president of the Islamic State of Afghanistan for two months beginning in April 1992. He was previously leader of the National Liberation Front of Afghanistan. In 1989, he headed an interim Afghan government and met with former President Bush.

Mojaddedi lived in exile in Pakistan and Denmark before returning to Kabul in February. Police said he was flying to Peshawar, Pakistan, through London.

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