The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has paid tribute to Afghanistan's government for its role in securing the release of three UN workers who were kidnapped in Kabul nearly four weeks ago.
Annetta Flanigan from Co Armagh and her two colleagues from the Philippines and Kosovo were freed this morning. They were unharmed and are described as being in good shape.
Mr Annan expressed his gratitude in a phone call to the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, and also spoke to the former hostages.
Ms Flanigan's family members have said they are looking forward to an early reunion. In a statement released through the Foreign Office in London, they said they looked forward to seeing her in Northern Ireland in the near future.
The senior officer with the Irish Defence Forces in Afghanistan, Commander Mark Mellett, says Ms Flanigan has been reunited with her husband in Kabul.
The three UN workers, who had been helping to oversee Afghanistan's first democratic elections, were abducted in central Kabul by armed men last month.
The circumstances of their release are not yet clear. Reports of a rescue operation have not been confirmed.
Afghanistan's Interior Minister, Mohammed Ali Jalali, said his government had made no deal with the kidnappers for the release of the hostages.
He told reporters in Kabul that no prisoners were released, no money was paid and no demand was accepted.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, and the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, have welcomed the release of Ms Flanigan, who holds both Irish and British citizenship, as well as of the other two hostages.
