Taliban release kidnapped French woman

The Taliban released a French woman aid worker abducted three weeks ago, but said today a French man and three Afghan colleagues would not be freed until French troops leave Afghanistan.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the woman, who worked for the aid group Terre d’Enfance and has been identified only by her first name, Celine, was handed over to tribal leaders in the Maywand district of southern Kandahar province.

“Because she is a woman, to make good relations with the French government, we have handed this woman over to Maywand district tribal leaders,” Ahmadi said.

Antoine Vuillaume, who heads Terre d’Enfance, or A World for Our Children, confirmed the woman was released and was travelling to Kabul by road today.

“I hope that she will be able to come to France as soon as possible, based on her physical and psychological state,” Vuillaume said Paris, after meeting Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. “She is very tired, very hard-hit.”

Ahmadi said the French man and the three Afghans were still being held, and reiterated the Taliban’s demands for the withdrawal of French troops.

“The French government has to stop giving military support to the Afghan government, and French forces should leave Afghanistan,” he said. “When the French government withdraws its forces from our country, then we will negotiate the release of this French man and three Afghans as well.”

France pulled 200 special forces out of Afghanistan late last year and still has about 1,000 troops stationed in the country.

President Jacques Chirac said he was “delighted” by the release.

“Everyone must now redouble the efforts to obtain it for other hostages, with the greatest discretion,” said a statement from Chirac’s office.

Celine worked in south-western Nimroz province and was kidnapped on April 3 with four colleagues – French citizen Eric and three Afghans, Azrat, Hashim and Rasul.

A video of the kidnapped French and Afghans surfaced 10 days after their capture, showing Celine and Eric pleading for their lives.

The French Foreign Ministry said weeks of diplomatic efforts to secure the captives’ release “should continue with the same determination and the same discretion until the liberation of the other hostages”.

Nato-led troops, meanwhile, pushed forward with their operation in the south to root out militants in the opium heartland of Helmand province.

In two separate incidents, airstrikes killed 21 suspected Taliban in Helmand and eastern Khost province.

Separately, a Nato service member was found dead in his barracks yesterday afternoon, according to Nato’s International Security Assistance Force. Its statement, issued today from Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, did not give further details and said the cause of death was under investigation.