Kabul, Afghanistan – A French aid worker tearfully thanked the Taliban for releasing her Saturday after more than three weeks in captivity, and she pleaded for the freedom of four colleagues still held in southern Afghanistan.
The woman – so far identified only by her first name, Celine – was kidnapped in southwestern Nimroz province April 3 with a French co-worker and three Afghan colleagues who worked for the charity Terre d’Enfance.
“I want to ask them to have pity in the name of their God,” she said at the French Embassy in Kabul, her voice shaking and barely audible at times.
Wearing a pink shalwar kameez tunic and a black scarf, Celine said in French: “I thank the Taliban for keeping their promise and giving me back my life. I will never forget that they gave me something to eat and drink and treated me with respect.”
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said Celine was released 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 told The Associated Press by phone.
