A journalist has been released together with his interpreter hours after they were abducted in Afghanistan, the governor of the region of Kunar on Afghanistan's border with Pakistan said.

No ransom was paid, said the governor, Deedar Shalizei. He said he had threatened village elders that he would send troops into the area, prompting the release of the journalist.

Shalizei said the journalist had made a big mistake by travelling to the region, scene of recent fighting between NATO troops and the Taliban, without informing the Afghan authorities first.

Contrary to earlier reports, the abducted journalist is not German. Shalizei said he is a Dane of Afghan extraction. Initial reports said the journalist in question was Christoph Reuter, a journalist for news magazine Stern. The magazine had said earlier on Wednesday that it was concerned because it could not reach him. But Reuter has since contacted the magazine to say he is fine and was not kidnapped.

The brief kidnapping came just days after the abduction of two German engineers  in Afghanistan. One of the men, 43-year-old Rüdiger Diedrich, died last week during a forced march through a mountain range.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has reiterated that Germany remains committed to its military mission in Afghanistan and will not give in to Taliban demands that it withdraw its 3,000 troops from the country.