Caught Norwegian freed in Afghanistan
The Norwegian freelance journalist Paul Refsdal (46) is set free after having been in captivity for a week in Afghanistan with a group claiming to be connected to the Taliban.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) has been working hard to get him released since they were informed about the hostage situation.
Refsdal was captured Thursday in the last week with a male, Afghan interpreter, and he called himself to the Foreign Ministry and reporting the following day.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who described it as a hostage-like situation, had contact with him other days.
Today orientaded UD that both the Norwegian and his Afghan translator were released last night, and they find themselves in a safe place.
- Very sad
Refsdal was in Afghanistan on assignment for November Film production company to work on a documentary with the working title "On the other side."
According to the documentary consultant Maria Fuglevaag Warsinski to the film follow three Afghans.
Refsdal was captured in Kunar province, on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, by a group claiming to be related to the Taliban.
This is a dangerous area, and according to the Foreign Ministry was Refsdal advised not to go there. It is not yet known which group is behind this action.
- This is primarily very sad for him and us. Now our focus is to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible. That is where we have our thoughts now, and that is where we place our efforts and the little we can contribute, "said general manager in November Films, Kjetil Johnsen, told NRK after Refsdal was captured.
He preferred not to go into detail on what the company could contribute, or whether it's then time was put forward some demands from the Afghan group.
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U.S. soldiers seeking shelter in the Afghan Kunar province.
Foto: David Guttenfelder/Scanpix/AP
Photo: David Guttenfelder / Scanpix / AP
- Do not put political demands
According to the Pakistani news site thenews.com shall Qari Dawat, which he claims is a spokesperson for the group have said that the Norwegian was captured because "he came to the Taliban-controlled area without permission".
Dawat promoted according to the news site earlier this week, a claim that the twelve Taliban prisoners had to be set free, in addition to that Norway had to pull its forces out of Afghanistan, for that Refsdal should be released.
Foreign Ministry rejects, however, that it was put forward political demands, and by all accounts so that there was talk of a ransom.
UD has since Friday been working hard to get him released. Prime Minister's office should also have been involved in the case.
Refdals relatives have always been informed about the ongoing situation.
(Artikkelen fortsetter under bildet)
(Article continues below the image)
Dette kartet viser de Taliban-kontrollerte omrĺdene i Afghanistan og Pakistan.
This map shows the Taliban-controlled areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Kunar-provinsen ligger nord-řst for Kabul.
Kunar province lies north-east of Kabul.
Grafikk: Renate Rognan/NRK
Graphics: Renate Rognan / NRK
Have had to have the ministry's help earlier
Pĺl Refsdal working as a freelance journalist and has been in Afghanistan many times. Documentary film he is now working on, is a project he should have been doing for years.
He has worked in a number of the world's conflict zones since he first traveled to Afghanistan in the mid-1980s. At that time he followed mujahideen guerrillas in the country and followed several attacks against Soviet forces.
The year after, he followed the Tamil separatists in a boat from India to Sri Lanka. The boat was attacked by government forces, and three people were killed, but Refsdal saved his life by jumping overboard.
He has also followed several guerrilla groups in Central America in the 1980s.
UD has also worked intensively to get Refsdal out of an area alive. In 1998, he was in Kosovo, where he worked closely with the Kosovo Albanian KLA guerrillas.
In an attack he was hit by a grenade. He was severely wounded and eventually fled to a hospital as a KLA-controlled, and where he had to spend three months.
Then he had to flee from place to place while he was being chased by Serb soldiers. He could not say exactly where he was staying, which made the ministry's efforts to help him out even harder, but he managed to leave the province.
Some months later he returned. Then he followed with soldiers from the KLA guerrillas in Kosovo, in a border area towards Albania.
When Norwegian media talked to him, he would not say exactly where he was.
-
The Serbs want Western journalists as prisoners of war, so I'm very careful, "he said then.
Won the difficult conditions
Before Refsdal went to Kosovo, he was a period means working for Norwegian People's Aid and Save the Children, and he has been the press and information officer for the Norwegian UN battalion in Bosnia.He has also been to the United Nations in Lebanon.
In 2001, Refsdal awarded 50,000 dollars in compensation from the Norwegian People's Aid after they reported him to have tried to get a hitman to kill three Norwegians in the Norwegian People's Aid.
Refsdal told about his experiences as a journalist in questioning by the Taliban group.
- He says he was captured in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, and that he was arrested by Russian forces in Chechnya, so he is accustomed to problems and difficult conditions, "said Qari Dawat told Afghan Islamic Press earlier this week.
Journalists in prison
Several times before the journalists were captured by the Taliban.
In September, the Irish journalist Stephen Farrell, who worked for The New York Times, set free after a NATO operation in northern Afghanistan. Also, the American journalist David Rohde was in captivity with the Taliban. He was sitting in over seven months.
Norwegian war journalist released from Taliban... for what?
Originally Posted by Finn
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: the fact that 
.
