Ottawa says it is looking into reports that a Canadian has been abducted in Afghanistan.
Afghan news organizations say a Canadian man and an American woman, both civilians, were abducted on Thursday in Wardak province, west of Kabul. The two were kidnapped as they drove along the highway from the city of Ghazni, the deputy governor of Ghazni told Afghanistan's Noor TV.
But in Canada, federal officials said on Friday they were still looking into the reports.
"We are aware of reports of an alleged kidnapping in Afghanistan," a department spokeswoman, Amanda Reid, said in an e-mail. "We are pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and are in close contact with Afghan authorities."
An official at the Afghan embassy in Ottawa, Khalid Khosraw, said his government had so far not revealed the nationalities of the people who were abducted.
But Ghazni deputy governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told Noor TV that an American and a Canadian were kidnapped on the Ghazni-Kabul road, which passes through Wardak province. He said the two did not co-ordinate their trip with local officials in that province.
The PakTribune.com site from neighbouring Pakistan reported that a local Taliban commander had claimed his fighters abducted the pair, but had not provided further details.
Campbell Clark