NGO: Taliban has kidnapped an Afghan interpreter for the Czech military

Prague, Aug 16 (ČTK) - The Taliban have kidnapped an interpreter who worked for the Czech military in Afghanistan while others have gone into hiding along with their families, the NGO Poppies, the group behind the Let Us Save the Interpreters campaign, wrote on Facebook today.

The information was disclosed to the group by the interpreter's brother.

The Czech Defence Ministry has invited an additional two former military interpreters who were not originally listed for the mission to board its evacuation flight.

"We have lost our contact with one of the interpreters. According to the news from his brother, armed men broke into his house, beat him up, and abducted him," the association said.

"We do not know about the situation of his wife and three small children," the group added.

The Poppies also said another four interpreters who were not listed by the Czech government for evacuation were in hiding along with their families near the airport.

"One of the families has gone underground without any water and food since yesterday (Sunday)," the group wrote.

On Sunday, the Defence Ministry listed two interpreters who were not originally among those selected for evacuation.

"This has confirmed that errors could have occurred when the list was drafted. We ask the government to allow all former interpreters of the Czech military who can still come to the airport to the evacuation aircraft," the Poppies activists said.

This morning, the first evacuation aircraft with 46 Czechs and Afghan interpreters came from Afghanistan.

Later in the morning, another evacuation aircraft left for Kabul.

The Czech Republic has promised help to local collaborators of the Czech embassy and interpreters with a valid contract with the Czech military who have passed a security check.

The government is being criticized for its slow response and for not having listed for evacuation all helpers of the military from previous years, too.

Experts warn that the collaborators with the allied troops are threatened with death. Their families, too, are in danger.

Other Western countries are withdrawing their collaborators from Afghanistan as well.