Last week, we did celebrate the return of two French journalists, Stéphane Taponier and Hervé Ghesquière. They were abducted in December 2009 and had been held by the Taliban for more than a year; it was a relief to have them back in France, in good health.

But many questions immediately raised about the negotiations and a supposedly paid ransom. The New York Times writes:

A spokesman for the Taliban also said Thursday that part of the reason the men had been held so long was that the French government refused to meet the captors’ demands. A few hours after the men were released, the spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that “France had finally been encouraged to accept our conditions,” and “consented to release a number of mujahidin commandants in exchange for the journalists’ freedom.” But French officials remained silent about the reasons why the two journalists were released after 18 months of negotiations and denied that a ransom was paid. “France doesn’t pay ransoms,” Alain Juppé, the foreign affairs minister, said on Wednesday. The French Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan capital, declined to comment.

We will probably never know if France paid a ransom or not. We hope not but we have our doubts on the answer. Anyway, we are happy the two journalists are back home and ‘have been in good spirits’ as they both said!

Photo credit: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters.