Govt, Taliban trade detainees for kidnapped workers

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): The government has released three detained female relatives of Taliban militants in an exchange for as many kidnapped NGO workers in northern Faryab province, an intelligence official said on Friday.

The Taliban had released the kidnapped workers of the Coordination of Humanitarian Organization, a national non-profit non-governmental organization, for a swap of three Uzbek women) official said.

The insurgents had kidnapped four workers, three teachers and a driver, about four weeks ago in Khwaja Musa area of the Pashtunkot district, but they killed one of them.

The provincial government then detained three female relatives of the kidnappers and handed them over to the insurgents in Qaiser district on Saturday in return for the kidnapped workers, the source said.

CHA Director Hayatullah Bakhtari confirmed the three employees had reached Maimana, the provincial capital, late on Saturday evening.

rm/ma

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