U.S. worker abducted in Afghanistan

Gunmen kidnapped an American aid worker and her driver Saturday from a residential neighborhood in southern Afghanistan’s largest city as she was on her way to work.

Cyd Mizell, 49, works here for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation. Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid blamed the “enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan” for the kidnappings.

A professor at Kandahar University, Mohammad Gul, said Mizell taught English at the university and gave embroidery lessons at a girl’s school. Mizell has worked for ARLDF on income-generating women’s projects in the area for three years.

Traveling around Kandahar city has become increasingly dangerous in the last year, as the Taliban insurgency has spread across southern Afghanistan. Western civilians often travel with armed guards and extreme caution; Mizell was wearing a burka when she was abducted. The area is rife with Taliban militants and criminals linked to the booming opium poppy trade.

A Taliban spokesman said he had no immediate information that the Islamic militia was behind the kidnappings.

Jeff Palmer, the aid group’s international director, said the group had not been contacted by the kidnappers.

Kidnappings for ransom are an increasing problem. Dozens of Afghans and foreigners have been abducted in the last year, and rumors persist nationwide of foreign governments paying large ransoms to win the release of their citizens.