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US woman kidnapped
26/01/2008 19:15 - (SA)
Kandahar - Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver while they were driving through a residential section of southern Afghanistan's largest city on Saturday, a provincial governor said.
The two were stopped by gunmen in the city of Kandahar around 08:00 while the woman was being driven to work, said Gov. Asadullah Khalid. He blamed the kidnappings on the "enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan".
Khalid said the 49-year-old American was wearing a burqa when she was taken.
Several Westerners - including two German construction workers and two Italian journalists - have been kidnapped in Afghanistan in the last year, but this was the first kidnapping of an American in recent memory.
The American worked for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, said Jeff Palmer, its international director. Palmer said the group hadn't been contacted by the kidnappers and that he didn't know their identity or demands.
"It is our hope that our worker will be released safely and quickly and we are doing all that we can to resolve the situation," Palmer said. "This is a first for our organization and we're really praying for a quick resolution."
Palmer said the woman has worked for ARLDF on income-generating women's projects in Kandahar for the last three years.
Travelling around Kandahar has turned increasingly dangerous in the last year as the Taliban insurgency has spread throughout southern Afghanistan. Western civilians who operate there often travel with armed guards and extreme caution. The area is rife with Taliban militants and criminals linked to the country's booming opium poppy trade.
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