An Italian aid worker freed after three weeks as a hostage in Afghanistan left for home yesterday, even as security forces continued to hunt for her kidnappers.
A white Italian jet that had landed earlier at Kabul airport left with the former hostage, Clementina Cantoni, 32, her father and brother, Jalili, a Ministry of Interior official, who uses only one name, said.
"She flew home. She was very happy. Before leaving, she said she would come back to Afghanistan and that she had fond memories from here," said Jalili, who escorted Cantoni to the airport.
PHOTO: EPA
The Italian was released on Thursday, 24 days after she was kidnapped at gunpoint in the heart of the Afghan capital. She was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families. She spent Thursday night at the Italian Embassy, before leaving for the airport and boarding the plane to Italy.
nightmare's end
Cantoni said in an interview that her abductors "treated me well" and that while in captivity she was "watched by a group of women," without elaborating.
After being taken to the Italian Embassy on Thursday, she immediately asked for a bowl of spaghetti, according to La Repubblica.
Back home, Italy reacted with joy and relief at the news of Cantoni's release. The woman's parents in Milan broke out in tears and hugged each other.
"Clementina [is] free, the end of a nightmare," was the banner headline of Turin daily La Stampa.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was "extremely pleased" to hear the news, a statement from his office said. Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal said the kidnappers were part of a criminal gang and that "the police are hunting them. He urged the 3,000 aid workers, diplomats and other foreigners living in Kabul to "be vigilant about their safety" amid fears of more kidnappings. Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said at a news conference on Thursday that Cantoni "is in good health given the 24-day ordeal she went through." He said no ransom was paid or other concessions made to obtain her freedom.
The kidnapping was the latest in a spate of violence that has shaken Afghanistan and raised fears that militants here were copying the tactics of those in Iraq.
public pressure
Jalali said combined pressure from the Afghan public, President Hamid Karzai, tribal leaders and Muslim clerics persuaded the kidnapper, whom he described as a criminal, to release her.
Late last month, a video of Cantoni was released by the kidnappers and broadcast on local television. On it, she was shown sitting, with two men standing next to her pointing assault rifles at her head.
Authorities have said they suspect the kidnapping was the work of the same criminal gang accused of abducting three UN workers last year, released a month later.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to