Indian abducted in Afghanistan released

NEW DELHI: Indian national Mohammed Nayeem, who was kidnapped from Afghanistan's Herat province in April, has been released by his captors. ( Watch ) The Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed the release of Nayeem, Times Now reported. A Nepalese national kidnapped, who was abducted along with the Indian worker, has also been freed. The men are safe in a police compound in the western Adraskan district, provincial intelligence chief Habibullah Habib told a news agency. He could not immediately comment on their condition. "We had an operation last night and the forces found the place where the Indian and Nepalese were and we freed them. We arrested the head of the kidnapping group," Habib said. Nayeem, who works for Dubai-based HEB International Logistics, was kidnapped on April 22. Nayeem was travelling in a taxi on a main highway in Adraskan near Herat when he was abducted. The kidnapping of Nayeem was part of a series of incidents targeted at around 4,000 Indians working in Afghanistan on various projects. The Taliban militia are suspected to be behind most of these attacks on Indians as they don't want New Delhi to build the strategic Zaranj-Delaram road link that seeks to reduce Afghanistan's dependence on Pakistan for overland access to Central Asia and provide an alternative route for Indian goods to that country. India has pledged $850 million for a number of developmental projects in Afghanistan - a gateway to the energy-rich Central Asia. New Delhi has already made it clear that it would not "succumb" to pressure from any quarters to withdraw from the strife-torn country.