The Taliban freed a French aid worker on Saturday as President Hamid Karzai marked the anniversary of the end of communist rule with a fresh offer of an olive branch to the resurgent guerrillas. France's Foreign Ministry confirmed that one member of an aid group who were kidnapped in Afghanistan early this month had been released.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said earlier the aid worker, a French woman identified only as Celine, was freed in the southern province of Kandahar as a gesture of goodwill.
Speaking to Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location, he said the deadline for the release of her male French colleague, Eric, and three Afghan workers for the Terre d'Enfance aid group had been extended by a week. "This release is the result of the efforts made for more than three weeks. They must continue with the same determination and the same discretion until the release of the other hostages," a French Foreign Ministry statement said.
The Taliban want France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and the Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners before they free the Frenchman and his Afghan colleagues, Yousuf said.
Yousuf, asked if a ransom had been paid, said the aid worker had been freed "because she is a woman". In Paris, President Jaques Chirac - who recently called Karzai asking for help - said he was delighted and urged redoubled efforts to free the four remaining hostages.
At a ceremony in Kabul for the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet-backed communist regime, Karzai again pleaded with the Taliban to talk peace. "We once again invite those who have sided with aliens because of seduction against their nation, to give up sedition and evil and join peaceful life," he said.
The ceremony was marked by a military parade that included disabled victims of Afghan fighting - in wheelchairs and on crutches - as well as Soviet-era tanks and modern US Humvees.
Karzai is due to fly to Turkey on Sunday for talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Taliban use of Pakistan as a sanctuary and training centre will be high on the agenda.
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