Three journalists for the Guardian were released unharmed on Wednesday after being kidnapped last week by an armed gang in a rugged and remote part of eastern Afghanistan, the newspaper said.
The journalists, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who is Iraqi, and two Afghan colleagues, had spent six days in cold and snowy conditions surviving on soup, tea and bread, the Guardian said.
It credited efforts by representatives and intermediaries in Afghanistan but did not release details, including the names of the two Afghans, to “avoid compromising the security of those involved, particularly those remaining in Afghanistan.”
The three were described as “exhausted but in good spirits.”
The men had traveled to Kunar Province, along the border with Pakistan, to interview militants. After last hearing from Abdul-Ahad on Dec. 9, the Guardian said, it was informed two days later that the men had been kidnapped.
Following the practice of other news organizations whose reporters have been kidnapped during the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, including the New York Times, the Guardian withheld disclosure of the abductions while efforts to secure the release of the three were under way.
In a statement on Wednesday, the paper said: “The Guardian has a comprehensive emergency plan to deal with such incidents, which was enacted immediately in both London and Kabul. As part of this plan, the paper engaged professional advisers in the U.K. and Afghanistan to assist in securing the individuals’ release. The Guardian will offer full support to all three men in terms of dealing with issues arising from their kidnapping.”
Editor in chief Alan Rusbridger, said the paper was delighted the situation has been resolved relatively quickly and that the men are safe.
“While we can’t name them, we would like to thank some particularly brave Afghan colleagues who went to extraordinary lengths to help secure their release,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have announced they will release a new video of a US soldier captured in Afghanistan, a US-based terrorism-tracking organization said.
SITE Intelligence Group said the media arm of the Afghan Taliban made the announcement Wednesday on their Web site.
The Taliban did not name the American.
The only US soldier known to be in captivity is Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who was captured June 30 in Paktika Province near the Pakistan border.
His Taliban captors released a propaganda video of the 23-year-old about two weeks later, in which Bergdahl appeared downcast and frightened.
In related news, the US ambassador to Kabul said yesterday that no deadline exists for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan and recommitted the US to helping build the capacity and competence of Afghan security forces.
US forces would begin a “gradual and responsible transition” in July 2011 conditional on the readiness of Afghanistan’s own police and army to take over the security of their war-battered country, Karl Eikenberry 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