Hundreds of Afghan women, many wearing burqas, prayed at a rare mass protest in southern Afghanistan, calling on authorities to find a kidnapped US aid worker and urging her captors to release her.
Officials said they still have not identified any suspects in the kidnapping of Cyd Mizell and her Afghan driver, Abdul Hadi. Gunmen abducted the two on Saturday in a residential neighborhood of the city of Kandahar.
The demonstration by about 500 Afghan women in the conservative province of Kandahar was a rare display of women's wishes. The 90-minute meeting was filled with prayers and speeches calling on government leaders to act.
Rona Tareen, director of the Kandahar Women's Association, urged Mizell's captives to free her immediately, saying she had helped Kandahar's women with small business projects.
"She was here helping the woman in Kandahar. She was trying to get their embroidery outside of the country," Tareen told the 500 to 600 women who gathered in a Kandahar wedding hall. The crowd estimate came from participants in the rally and an Associated Press journalist.
"Her kidnapping is against our culture and tradition," Tareen said. "We demand that the kidnappers free her immediately."
Another woman, Bibi Nanai, said she received permission from her husband to join the protest.
"I came from my home to show my support," Nanai said. "We are very upset."
Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid said on Tuesday there were still no suspects in the case and authorities were searching for clues.
No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid reiterated on Tuesday that he could neither confirm nor deny that Taliban militants had taken the American woman and her driver.
Mizell, who was wearing a burqa when she was taken, works on aid projects for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation.
Jeff Palmer, the director of Mizell's organization, said the kidnappers had still not contacted any officials.
Mizell, who taught English at Kandahar University and gave embroidery lessons at a girls' school, speaks the local Pashtu language well, colleagues said.
She has worked for the foundation in Kandahar for the last three years, Palmer said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS