Indian abducted in Kabul rescued

In a piece of good news for all those who have been working tirelessly in Afghanistan amid violence, an Indian woman who was abducted in Kabul six weeks ago has been rescued. “I am happy to inform you that Judith D’Souza has been rescued. Judith was abducted in Kabul on 9th June 2016,” India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a tweet on microblogging social site on July 23. The identity of the captors and the details of rescue mission have not been disclosed yet. D’Souza, who was working for the Aga Khan Foundation as a senior technical adviser, was abducted by suspected militants from outside her office in the heart of Kabul on June 9. The family of 40-year-old Kolkata resident, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting for his intervention to help rescue her. In the letter, the family members underlined that the “brave, thoughtful, generous and compassionate” Judith had been working in Afghanistan for the well-being of the Afghan people and “as an ambassador of goodwill from India’s people, participating in the developmental programmes of that country”. This is not the first time an Indian aid worker has been targeted in Afghanistan. The Indian embassy and consulates have been targeted many a time in the violence-riven country by the Taliban and its allied militant outfits. India has pledged around $2 billion for a host of development projects in Afghanistan.