Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 6, 2016
Australia’s government says it is trying to confirm reports that one of its nationals has been kidnapped in Afghanistan, the latest in a series of reported abductions involving foreign aid workers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said on November 6 that the Australian embassy in Kabul was making “urgent enquiries into reports an Australian has been kidnapped in Kabul.” It did not provide further details.
Afghanistan’s Tolo TV reported on November 6 that an Australian woman thought to be working for a nongovernmental aid group was abducted at gunpoint in the Qala-e Fatullah area of central Kabul.
There have been several abductions of foreign aid workers recently, including at least two Australians this year.
Kerry Jane Wilson, who was kidnapped from the office of a charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April, was freed in August.
Another Australian, working as a teacher at the American University in Kabul, was kidnapped in August.