WASHINGTON: A media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, called on Wednesday for the immediate release of Paul Overby, an American writer who disappeared in North Waziristan.

Inastatementissuedhere,the group, whichis better known by its French acronym RSF, said Mr Overby was last heard in K h o s t , A f g h a -ni stan in May, 2014.

Mr Overby, 74, is a published independent writer and a researcher of Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs. He is the author of Holy Blood: An Inside View of the Afghan War (1993).

The writer disappeared on his way to North Waziristan to meet and interview Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, for a new book on the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan, RSF said.-Correspondent