Kabul (AsiaNews) – The Afghan government confirmed the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, who was abducted by the Talibans in Helmand province on March 5. Shukria Barakzai, an MP in the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament), expressed her “satisfaction for the outcome for which Afghan authorities worked hard,” she told AsiaNews.
Along with Mastrogiacomo the Talibans had abducted two Afghans, a driver who was killed on suspicion of being a spy, and the interpreter, Adjmal Naskhbandi, about whose fate afghan authorities remain tight-lipped.
From the beginning the kidnapping was a delicate and difficult affair. Emergency, a humanitarian organization, mediated from the start.
Afghan news agency Pajhwok was the first to report Matrogiacomo’s release. The journalist was freed around 5 pm local time and soon after the Italian Foreign Ministry announced the news.
According to Pajhwok, mullah Dadullah, Taliban commander in the south-western provinces, stated that Mastrogiacomo was let go in exchange for five important Taliban prisoners.
“Thank God it all ended well,” said Fr Giuseppe Moretti, parish priest in Afghanistan’s only church which is located inside the Italian Embassy in Kabul.”
“Catholics worldwide prayed for the release and safety of Mastrogiacomo and the others,” he said, “irrespective of their nationality.”