26 Sep 2010

British aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan

A British national has gone missing in Afghanistan, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has confirmed. US aid organisation DAI confirmed to Channel 4 News the Briton is one of its employees.

The missing person is thought to be a woman. She was in a two car convoy in the eastern province of Kunar when the vehicles were stopped by armed men.

The police chief for Kunar Province, a rugged region bordering Pakistan, said they were seized while visiting an unspecified project in the area.

Khalilullah Ziayee said the motive behind the kidnapping was not immediately clear, he said.

DAI confirmed to Channel 4 News that the woman was kidnapped along with three other local workers.

Channel 4 News reporter Carl Dinnen said: “This UK national and two of her colleagues were travelling in two cars. It was 11am local time. They were going between Asadabad and Jalalabad in Kunar Province in the northeast of Afghanistan, when their cars were stopped by a group of armed men. They were led away on foot.

“All of this apparently witnessed by an Afghan local who was able to later raise the alarm.

“So far no organisation has said that they had anything to do with this apparent abduction.”

Speaking about the US organisation DAI, Dinnen said: “They’ve confirmed to me that these people were working for them and that this woman was working for them. They are a kind of consultancy who work on aid projects for the American development agency US Aid.

“They are working particularly in Afghanistan on things like social and economic development. They have about 2,000 staff in Afghanistan. They have enormous experience there and they’ve been there unbroken since 2002. So these are people who do know what they’re doing and have been in that province for quite some time.”

The Foreign Office confirmed it is investigating the disappearance.

An FCO spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a British national is missing in Afghanistan.

“We are working with other international agencies to urgently investigate these reports.”

They were taken away by foot and a major search operation is now under way with the assistance of local tribal elders, according to reports.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Kunar is an area held by the Taliban known for a series of foreign kidnappings in recent years.