UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
01:12 Mecca time, 22:12 GMT
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA
Afghan women condemn kidnapping

Aid worker Cyd Mizell and her driver have
been missing since Saturday [AFP]


Afghan women have protested in Kandahar against the abduction of a female US aid worker and called on religious leaders to condemn the kidnapping.
 
About 500 women took part in a demonstration on Tuesday against the kidnapping of Cyd Mizell, 49, and her Afghan driver.
 
They were seized on Saturday while travelling to work in the southern city.
"We call on Kandahar religious council to condemn this act and encourage the public to help, call on the abductors to release her without any harm or conditions," read a statement from the city's women's association, who organised the demonstration.
"We strongly condemn the abduction of a foreign woman who was working for Kandahar people and Kandahar women."
 
Local police officials said on Tuesday that no one had claimed responsibility for the abduction.
 
The Taliban has said it is trying to find out if any of its members were involved.
 
Mizell's employer, Asian Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF), is a community-development organisation headquartered in the Philippines.
 
Political motive?
 
Homayun Hamidzada, a spokesperson for Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, said investigations are under way "to verify if the abduction has a political motive".
 
The Taliban, which has links with al-Qaeda, is alleged to have been involved in a series of abductions of foreigners last year.
 
The group, which was in power between 1996 and 2001, has said the tactic is effective in putting pressure on the Afghan government and its allies.
 
Criminal groups have also been behind a number of kidnappings in recent months and it is believed they pass their hostages on to the Taliban.
 Source: Agencies
 
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