Two German mountaineers missing in Afghanistan since last week found to be killed in the Salang Pass near the capital Kabul.
Though the Interior Ministry Spokesperson, Sidiq Sediqi, has not yet confirmed the report, the Governor of the Parwan province,Abdul Basir Salangi, talking to the RTN confirmed the death. He said that the bodies have been found around five kilometers away from the Salang Pass from where the Germans were supposed to start their hiking.
Since the Parwan province is not a Taliban infested area it was assumed that the missing foreign nationals might have been lost in the high mountains.
But the worst has come true.
On August 23 the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had speculated that Germans might have been kidnapped.
On August 19 the two tourists went missing when they travelled to the south end of the Salang Pass with an intention to do hiking. But they didn’t return by 4PM the time they had given to their driver for returning. The driver waited for 6 PM and later informed the local authorities and the search has been going on since then.
The Salang Pass in the Hindukush mountain connects the capital Kabul with the northern part of the country.
Germany has more than 5000 troops in Afghanistan and is one of the important contributor to the NATO led International Security Agency Force(ISAF). They are not officially involved in combat operation and are based in the Northern part of Afghanistan to keep peace.
The day they went missing, the two traveled to the south end of the Salang Pass, north of Kabul, around 8 a.m. and told their driver they were going into the mountains. They promised to return at 4 p.m. and the driver waited until 6 p.m. before contacting local authorities, and the search began.