By IRNA
Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected demands by alleged kidnappers of two German nationals in Afghanistan who have threatened to kill the hostages, if Berlin did not pull out its 3,000 soldiers from a NATO-led force by Saturday noon.
Speaking with the Passauer Neuen Presse newspaper, Merkel said, "The Afghan people must not be abandoned. We must not ease up now in our efforts."
She stressed that the civilian rebuilding of Afghanistan has already shown "significant positive efforts" and must be continued.
Germany's Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday that two German engineers were kidnapped Wednesday morning in the Afghan province of Wardak.
While the radical Taliban militia has taken responsibility for the abduction, Germany's Foreign Ministry said it was "aware of the statement by the so-called spokesman of the Taliban" but that it contradicted an earlier statement that the Taliban was not holding the Germans.
A crisis staff has been established in the German Foreign Ministry to deal with the case.
"We will continue to carefully monitor the developments of the situation. All necessary steps have been taken. The crisis team continues to work toward a swift release of the two kidnapped men," a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, another German citizen and his Afghan translator were freed after a week-long kidnapping ordeal in western Afghanistan.
The former German hostage who reportedly worked for an American construction company in Afghanistan, was on his way to Kabul after being kidnapped in the western province of Farah.
Kidnappers had initially demanded a 40,000 US dollar ransom for the release of the German man and his Afghan translator.
It was the first kidnapping case of a German citizen in war-stricken Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Germany has presently deployed around 3,000 forces in northern Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Some 35,000 ISAF troops are currently based in Afghanistan.
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