Australian journalist missing in Afghanistan

An Australian journalist and her Afghan assistant and driver have gone missing in an area of southern Afghanistan where Taliban guerrillas are active, officials said.
The Taliban warned last November that anyone seen to be assisting US interests in Afghanistan would be targets for future attacks, including journalists and aid workers.
www.abc.net.au...

I hope this not another hostage situation,
Sanc'.

Just coming through on Oz tv, that the pair HAVE been kidnapped by the Taliban
*looking for confirmation*, but here's a later link
Fears are growing that an Australian broadcast journalist may have been kidnapped by the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan.

Officials were trying to locate Carmela Barenowska, a journalist working for SBS.

Cdr Chris Henderson, a spokesman for NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul, said they were working with Afghan authorities and the US military to try to locate Barenowska after receiving a call from SBS.
theage.com.au...
Sanc'.

Kidnapping a journalist is a pretty stoopid thing to do.

Journalists are there to report on what is happening. if anything, they can be your best friend if you know how to use them right. They can get your side of the story across. They are not foreign occupiers, they are there to let everyone else know whats going on.

The more they take thier frustrations out out on non combatants, the less respect they will get.

Further...
"She was travelling with her assistant Muhibullah, a Kandahari who also works for Time magazine, and a driver. None have been heard from since."

Taliban spokesman Hamid Agha said last night that it had captured a foreign woman and an Afghan man. "My colleagues have informed me that they are holding a foreign woman and an Afghan man, but I don't know whether that woman is a journalist or not," he said.
theage.com.au...
Sanc'.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Kidnapping a journalist is a pretty stoopid thing to do.

Well from the kidnappers perspective its proberbly a very wise decision.

Our government/media are really going hype this up and probably drench it with national pride with a little splash of hate.

I didnt even know the taliban still freely roamed afghanistan?

Well, it appears all 3 are safe
Missed call sparked search: US
July 1, 2004
THE search for an SBS journalist feared captured in Afghanistan was triggered when she failed to make contact with her employer earlier this week, the US military says.
www.news.com.au...
Sanc'.

Originally posted by electric squid carpet
Our government/media are really going hype this up and probably drench it with national pride with a little splash of hate.

I didnt even know the taliban still freely roamed afghanistan?

The taliban have been regrouping for a quite a while now and have started attacking targets around afghanistan again.

Don't really what they will gain from kidnapping a journalists

Saw this on the news tonight. Glad they appear safe but things arn't 100% confirmed yet. You've gotta respect these people for putting themselves in dangerous warzones armed with only a pen, paper and camera. All so we can find out what's going on there.

From one of my above posts,
"She was travelling with her assistant Muhibullah, a Kandahari who also works for Time magazine, and a driver. None have been heard from since."

NOW this,
Journalist tight-lipped on missing days

SBS journalist Carmela Baranowska, feared kidnapped by Taliban in southern Afghanistan earlier this week, says she is safe but has refused to divulge on how she spent her missing days.
news.com.au...
www.abc.net.au...

I smell a rat.
Sanc'.

It appears as if she might have gone off with the Taliban to film them...maybe the reason for the silence, well see it all in the documentary?

For some reason, I was more interested in 'her assistant Muhibullah, a Kandahari who also works for Time magazine. Note, who ALSO works...
Now, Tim McGirk, Time mag' states "Tim McGirk, Islamabad bureau chief for Time, said Muhibullah had told him he would check in regularly."
www.reuters.co.uk...

Muhibullah' name was mis-spelt in most mainstream media. His name is Mohibullah.
I quote,"His name, he told us, is Mohibullah. Sure enough, he turned out to be only 18 and said he had been working as an armed guard and driver with the Junbish-e-Milli faction for a year. He introduced us to another 18-year-old who said he had been a soldier since he was 16 but had never actually fought."
slate.msn.com...

Junbish-e-Milli faction! My guess is they are saying nothing 'cause they may have
got in over thier heads. If Mohibullah is a member of the Junbish-e-Milli faction,
i reckon the Oz journalists report...cam-corder etc may have struck a nerve and
the Taliban took all evidence and advised the 'party' DON'T TRY THAT AGAIN!

Sanc'.