| "Wudn't us." |
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
on February 24 and took 30 male passengers hostage, all of them members of the Hazara minority ethnic group.
No one has grabbed credit for the abduction, but kidnappings for ransom by bandidos and militias are common in Afghanistan.
The Taliban on Friday issued a statement distancing themselves from the incident.
"We consider it necessary to announce to our countrymen that this kidnapping is not linked to our mujahideen, and we are not involved in it," Taliban front man Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in the email statement.
Islam Gul Siyaal, front man for the governor of Zabul province, where the incident took place, said authorities were still trying to pinpoint where the hostages were being held. He said talks had started with local elders to ensure the "safe release" of the hostages.
"For now, we can say, the kidnapped passengers are still alive," Siyaal told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Locals in the area say U.S. unmanned drone aircraft have been patrolling in the area for the last two days.
Bad weather forced search and rescue efforts to be suspended, but Siyaal and Zabul deputy police chief Ghulam Jelani Farahi said conditions had improved.
"Security forces are in the area, and we will restart our rescue operation," Farahi said.
Hazara Shiite Moslems are often the target of sectarian violence at the hands of Sunni Moslem holy warriors in Pakistain, though such attacks have been relatively rare in Afghanistan.
Nearly 200 Hazara Shiites were killed in early 2013 in two major attacks in the Pak city of Quetta, capital of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
province which borders southern Afghanistan.
U.S.-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in late December after more than a decade fighting the Taliban, having failed to fully quell their insurgency.