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Afghan President Greets Freed UN Hostages


Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met with three U.N. workers, who were released Tuesday after being held hostage for nearly a month.

Officials say Wednesday's meeting at Mr. Karzai's palace in Kabul was private and reporters were not allowed to ask questions.

The three election workers -- two women from Ireland and Kosovo and a Philippine diplomat -- were found in Kabul Tuesday morning, apparently abandoned by their abductors.

They were kidnapped on October 28.

U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "relieved" that the hostages' ordeal was over. Mr. Annan said Tuesday the world body will continue to work to strengthen the security of its staff in order to enable it to fulfill the organization's mandate to further peace, reconstruction and democracy in Afghanistan.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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