KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A purported Taliban spokesman said the militants will decide the fate of a kidnapped French aid worker and his three Afghan colleagues after Sunday's French elections.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the militants, told an Associated Press reporter via telephone on Saturday that the Taliban's governing body was responding to the pleas of the French people in extending the deadline.
The French embassy in Kabul could not be reached for comment.
The aid worker Eric Damfreville -- working for charity Terre d'Efance -- was kidnapped alongside his colleague Celine Cordelier and three Afghans in southwestern Nimroz province on April 3.
Cordelier was released last Saturday in southern Helmand province, but militants are still holding Demfraville and the Afghans. Militants demand France pulls its troops out of Afghanistan in exchange for the release.
France has about 1,000 troops in the country and pulled out 200 French special forces late last year.
The kidnapping of the French aid workers came two weeks after Afghan authorities released five Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian newspaper reporter, who was abducted along with his two Afghan colleagues in southern Helmand province on March 5. The two Afghans were killed.
The deal was heavily criticized by the United States and some European nations. Afghan lawmakers and foreigners working in the country said it gave the Taliban incentive to stage more kidnappings.
The Afghan government has said the prisoner swap was a one-time deal for the Italian journalist, and has ruled out any future exchanges.
