Kidnapped French Nationals Fine - Afghan Official

With the rise of violence in Afghanistan, kidnapping has become all to common.

Two French aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan this month are fine and the government is doing all it can to secure their freedom, the interior minister said on Monday.

The two were working for the humanitarian agency, Action Against Hunger, in the central province of Dai Kundi and were kidnapped from their house nearly two weeks ago, according to the aid group.

"They are fine and in Afghanistan. We are working on the subject seriously and there has been progress," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari said.

The government was aware the pair were being held by Sedaqat, a commander of a former armed faction, Bashari said, but declined to give further details.

Sedaqat last week told a Western radio station he had kidnapped the pair due to differences with provincial authorities he said had sidelined him from power.

The warlord, who changed sides several times during Afghanistan's long and bitter civil war, made no demand for freeing the pair at the time.

With the rise of violence in Afghanistan, kidnapping has become all to common in Afghanistan and scores of Afghans and foreigners have been abducted by criminals or Taliban militants in recent years.

The kidnapping of Afghans rarely makes it in the international media. Abduction of Afghans has gone up in various parts of the country, especially in Kabul, in recent months, according to residents. Some of the hostages have been killed for failure to fulfil the demands of the captors.

The development has forced dozens of local businessmen or rich people to flee the country, residents say.

A Chinese worker of a road firm was freed at the weekend, a month after his abduction from an area southwest of Kabul.