Missing German Released

The police helped secure the unidentified man's release and reported that he and his translator are in good health.

The German went missing last week in the southwestern province of Farah. Media has reported the man was working for a road construction company.

"I cannot tell you who had kidnapped them but it was an abduction," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

The German foreign ministry confirmed that the hostage had been freed. It said the German national and his translator were with NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

ISAF's media office in Kabul could not however immediately say where they were.

Held for ransom

The governor of Farah province told AFP Thursday that the abductors had demanded a ransom for the German. The man agreed to pay 29,000 euros ($40,000) for his own release, Ghulam Mohaidin Baluch said.

The Taliban has denied its involvement in the kidnapping.

"This is not our work. We have not abducted any German national," spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP. "This could be the work of criminal groups who kidnap for money. I am confident this is not the work of our men."

The German government has been working to secure the man's release.

"We immediately took the necessary steps. On Saturday, a crisis unit was assembled in the foreign ministry," German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters in Berlin. "The embassy in Kabul and all other relevant authorities have been involved and are working intensively to resolve this matter as soon as possible."

Jaeger said the missing person was neither a journalist nor an aid worker. Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told ZDF television the hostage "works for a company".

Aid worker and journalists killed

In March, a 65-year-old German aid worker was shot dead in Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan in unclear circumstances. The engineer worked for German Agro Action (Deutsche Welthungerhilfe), which said it believed that he was killed for ideological reasons.

Two Deutsche Welle journalists were shot dead in October 2006 in the comparatively safe north of the country where German troops are deployed as part of a peacekeeping force. Germany has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan serving in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

In March, Berlin was given an ultimatum by Islamist militants to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

The Kataeb Siham al-Haq (Righteous Arrows Battalions) threatened to execute two German hostages being held in Iraq if Germany keeps its soldiers in Afghanistan.

The German defense ministry said last month it learned of a plot to attack Jung when he visited Afghanistan on June 6, prompting the minister to change his itinerary.