A French aid worker released by the Taliban after five weeks in captivity in Afghanistan returned to France on Saturday and made a plea for his captors to free three Afghans seized with him.
Eric Damfreville arrived at the Villacoublay military airport, west of Paris, where he was met by Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
Eric Damfreville appealed for the release of three Afghan colleagues still held by the Taliban.
(Michel Euler/Associated Press)
"I feel a great joy to be here this morning," said Damfreville, who worked for the humanitarian aid group Terre d'Enfance.
"But my joy will be even greater once Azrat, Rasul, Hashim, three Afghans, are also freed."
Damfreville, who had one eye covered by a bandage, looked thin and frail as he stepped off a French military plane.
The head of Terre d'Enfance, Antoine Vuillaume, said Damfreville had spent most of his captivity bound and gagged and described his health as "quite deteriorated."
Damfreville, however, said he was treated well by his captors and that his weakened health was a result of the length of his detention and the sparse conditions of the area where he was held.
"I was treated well. There were no mistreatments from our captors, they did everything so that the conditions of our detention were good, " he told reporters.
He was taken by ambulance to a military hospital in the Paris region.
The aid worker was released Friday after 38 days in captivity.
He had been abducted along with a female colleague and the three Afghans in the country's southwestern Nimroz province on April 3.
The Taliban released the woman, Celine Cordelier, on April 28. There was no word on the fate of the three Afghans.
After taking the group captive, the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of all remaining French troops from Afghanistan. France pulled 200 French special forces out of Afghanistan late last year and still has about 1,000 troops stationed in the country.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the militants, told an Associated Press reporter via telephone that Taliban leaders in co-ordination with tribal leaders decided to release Damfreville after a speech by French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy in which he said French troops cannot stay in Afghanistan indefinitely.
"The Taliban is expecting the French president to keep this promise," Ahmadi said. "The Taliban in the future want to have good relations with the French government and people."
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