Afghans to expel two foreigners on security charges

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has ordered the expulsion of a Briton working for the EU and an Irishman working for the United Nations, accusing them of posing a threat to national security, officials and diplomats said on Tuesday.

Local news portals said the pair may have visited the Taliban insurgent stronghold of Helmand recently and might have met with senior tribal elders with close links to the Taliban -- or even insurgent leaders themselves.

"Their activities were against the national security," an Afghan official said, adding they would be expelled and some locals would also be investigated.

Afghan officials did not give the names or nationalities of the two, and gave no further details of their arrests.

Western diplomats gave only their nationalities and the organizations they worked for.

One European diplomat said there were hopes the incident was the result of a misunderstanding.

Helmand is the heart of Afghanistan's drug-producing poppy industry and the European Union and United Nations have a key role in the British-led eradication program.

Afghanistan's poppies produce over 90 percent of the world's heroin and the massive, multi-million dollar illegal industry it supports is said by analysts to be a primary reason for the Taliban's resurgence in the south and east.

(Writing by David Fox; editing by Myra MacDonald)