Diplomats are still trying to trace Australian aid worker Kerry Wilson and who abducted her in Afghanistan.
Ms Wilson, 60, was kidnapped at gunpoint by men dressed as Afghan Intelligence officers early on Thursday morning from her office in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Ms Wilson has worked for more than a decade as the director of Afghan non-government organisation Zardozi, which she helped found.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters on Saturday that the Australian government was working closely with authorities in Afghanistan, as well as other countries, including Britain, who have significant representation on the ground.
"We are working with those who can assist us in making contact with those who may well have been involved," Ms Bishop said.
On Friday she reiterated the government does not pay ransom for hostages.
It is not yet known whether the kidnappers are Islamic militants or a local criminal gang, just as likely to abduct aid workers for ransom.
Ms Wilson's organisation, Zardozi supports more than 3000 Afghan women to make and sell clothing and handicrafts.
"With the money, refugee women send their children to school and feed their families," Ms Wilson said in a 2015 Zardozi video.
She started working in Afghanistan in 1996, the same year the Taliban seized control of the country, imposing strict Sharia law including bans on women working or being educated.
Ms Wilson's Perth-based father, Brian, pleaded for her return on Friday morning.
"But I presume she's a hostage and that they'll do their best to keep her alive and not harm her simply because they want to have something or other in return and it's not very good having a dead hostage," he told ABC radio.
Ms Wilson took to Facebook last year, appealing for support for Zardozi.
"We are working with Afghanistan's brave women," she wrote.
© AAP 2024
