2 aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two foreign Red Cross workers who aided in freeing a group of South Korean hostages last month have been abducted in Afghanistan as they were trying to help secure the release of a German captive, Afghan officials said Thursday.

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The foreigners and two Afghan staffers failed to return to their base Wednesday evening after a mission to pick up the German man and fellow Afghan hostages in central Wardak province.

Ewaz Muslimyar, the police chief of Wardak province, said the two foreign aid workers were kidnapped in Salar district. It was not immediately clear who was behind the abductions.

"They weren't actually involved in the negotiations, but there was supposed to be an imminent release of a German hostage and five Afghans accompanying him," said Claudia McGoldrick, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman, from the group's Geneva headquarters.

"From what we understand, that operation was never completed for reasons that we can't confirm at the moment. We can't confirm if whatever has happened to them is connected to that episode."

She said the aid agency is in "direct contact with all parties to the conflict to determine exactly what has happened." She declined to give further details about the workers' identities "for security reasons."

Amid soaring violence in Afghanistan, the number of kidnappings has spiked this year after the Taliban secured the release of five insurgent prisoners in exchange for a captive Italian journalist in March. Critics said the swap would encourage abductions.

German engineer Rudolf Blechschmidt was abducted on July 18, one day before militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans. It is believed that he was initially taken by criminals in Wardak, then later handed over to Taliban insurgents.

Blechschmidt is one of two German engineers and five Afghans who were snatched together. The other German was found dead of gunshot wounds on July 21, while one Afghan managed to escape.

It was not immediately clear how many Afghans were now with Blechschmidt, though McGoldrick said ICRC was trying to help five Afghans with him.

An Afghan official said the two foreigners had helped coordinate the release of 19 of the South Korean captives late last month. The official, who further confirmed the abductions of the foreigners as well as two Afghans, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The South Korean hostage crisis proved to be a windfall for the Taliban, winning them face-to-face talks with South Korean government delegates.

Militants kidnapped the 23 South Koreans in Ghazni province as they traveled by bus on a dangerous road from Kabul to volatile Kandahar in the south. Two hostages were killed; the rest were eventually released after negotiations between the Taliban and the Korean delegation.

The talks were held at the ICRC office in Ghazni, and ICRC officials drove to pick up the South Koreans after they were released.

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