[Since
last spring, kidnapped foreigners have included two Germans, a man and a woman,
who worked for the German aid group GIZ; a female Dutch aid worker; and Ms. Wilson.
There have been rumors of other kidnappings of Westerners, but embassies have
not confirmed them.]
By Rod Norland
 |
| A police checkpoint last week in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border. Katherine Jane Wilson, an Australian aid worker, had been kidnapped in the city one day earlier. Credit Noorullah Shirzada/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
KABUL,
Afghanistan — The United
States Embassy issued a strongly worded warning on Thursday about kidnappings
of foreigners here after an American citizen narrowly escaped an abduction
attempt in downtown Kabul.
“The
threat of kidnapping and hostage-taking continues to be very high,” the embassy
said in a statement posted on its website. It added that the attempted
kidnapping on Monday targeted several expatriates, including an American
citizen, who were riding in an aid group’s vehicle. The statement gave no
further details.
The
attempt came four days after a well-known Australian aid worker, Katherine Jane
Wilson, also known as Kerry, was kidnapped in the eastern city of Jalalabad. She
had been working in Afghanistan for about 20 years, relatives and Australian
government officials said.
That
abduction and others have alarmed foreign residents in Afghanistan, where
kidnappings seemed a relatively minor risk until a year ago.
Since
last spring, kidnapped foreigners have included two Germans, a man and a woman,
who worked for the German aid group GIZ; a female Dutch aid worker; and Ms. Wilson.
There have been rumors of other kidnappings of Westerners, but embassies have
not confirmed them.
In
addition, a Canadian hostage, Colin Rutherford, was released in January after
being held for five years by the Taliban.
An
American freelance journalist believed to have been taken prisoner by the
Haqqani network in eastern Afghanistan has been held for at least three years. As
in many such cases, the hostage’s identity has been kept secret by the authorities
and the news media, including The New York Times, at the request of relatives
or government officials.
Two
other Americans are thought to be held. Caitlin Coleman of York, Pa., disappeared
with her husband, Joshua Boyle, a Canadian, while vacationing in Afghanistan in
2012. She was pregnant at the time; her child, who would now be about 4, would
be an American citizen as well. Her family released videos of Ms. Coleman and
her husband that had been sent to them by the Taliban.
The
aid group that was targeted on Monday has not been publicly identified, but it
is believed to be a major American organization.
In
the case of Ms. Wilson, 60, the Australian government confirmed her identity, and
her father, Brian Wilson, appealed for her release in an interview with the
British newspaper The Daily Mail.
“I
presume she’s a hostage, and that they’ll do their best to keep her alive and
not harm her, simply because they want to have something or other in return and
it’s not very good having a dead hostage,” the paper quoted Mr. Wilson as
saying.
Ms.
Wilson ran the Zardozi organization, which promotes the work of Afghan artisans,
particularly women, and sold their handicrafts primarily to foreign residents
here and abroad. The group’s items were sold in Ganjina, a popular handicraft
venue in central Kabul that has shut down because of security concerns and a
decline in customers.
The
Afghan police believe that many of the kidnappings of foreigners have been
carried out by criminal gangs motivated by ransom. The fear is that such groups
could sell their hostages to extremist organizations. Several of those
kidnapped, such as the German and Dutch citizens taken last year, have been
released, but it is not known whether ransoms were paid.
Afghan
citizens working for aid groups are frequently kidnapped while in the field, but
in most cases they are released unharmed after negotiations with insurgents and
community leaders. That was the case with five Afghan employees of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, who were abducted in Ghazni Province
in February but released unharmed after four days. Last year, however, five
Afghan workers for the Save the Children charity were abducted and murdered in
southern Oruzgan Province.
The
kidnappings of foreigners in Kabul have been concentrated in the Taimani
neighborhood, where many foreign aid workers and journalists have homes and
offices. The attempt on Monday also took place in Taimani, said Fraidoon Obaidy,
who leads the criminal investigation division for the Kabul police. Despite the
embassy’s statement, however, he said it was apparently an attempted carjacking
of the aid group’s vehicle. “There was no proof that showed it was a kidnapping
attempt,” he said.
In
the kidnapping of one of the German aid workers, in Taimani, the police
arrested suspects, leading to her release, Mr. Obaidy said. “No ransom was paid
that I might know of,” he said, “but if anything was paid to the kidnappers
without telling us, that is a different issue.”
The
other German worker for GIZ was taken hostage in the northern city of Kunduz, and
he has also been released, officials said.
Mohammad
Omar Safi, the governor in Kunduz Province at the time of the abduction, said a
criminal gang had released that worker after a $1.5 million ransom was paid. The
kidnappers had wanted more, Mr. Safi said, and they kidnapped the second GIZ
staff member in retaliation, demanding an even larger ransom.
Mr.
Safi, who was interviewed by phone from Germany, said he had no personal
knowledge of whether a ransom had been paid in the second case.
A
spokesman for GIZ, Oliver Hanschke, declined to say whether the agency had paid
for the release of its workers. “GIZ does generally not comment on hostage-taking,”
Mr. Hanschke said.
The
United States Embassy’s warning on Thursday advised Americans to “avoid
predictable travel patterns within Afghanistan.” The embassy also urged people
to “review your personal security plans, take appropriate steps to enhance your
personal safety, remain aware of your surroundings, monitor local news for
updates, and maintain a high level of vigilance.”
Reporting was contributed by
Jawad Sukhanyar from Kabul, and Khalid Alokozay from Jalalabad.