By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

The American University of Afghanistan in capital Kabul on Monday urged the Taliban to immediately release two of its kidnapped professors after the militant group warned that the health of one of the victims had deteriorated.

Among the victims are 60-year-old American Kevin King and 48-year-old Australian Tim Weeks -- the senior most professors from the only foreign university in Afghanistan.

King and Weeks had been kidnapped from capital Kabul in August last year.

The university made its latest appeal for their release after the Taliban announced that King, who has a dangerous heart and kidney condition, might lose his life if the American side insisted on “delaying this matter”.

The Taliban had demanded the release of their own members in captivity in exchange for the release of the professors in a video posted in June.

The video showed the two professors pleading for their lives and urging the U.S. and Australian authorities to engage in talks with the militants for their release.

In its statement, the university said: “They are innocent victims of a criminal abduction. They came to Afghanistan to teach the Afghan youth and contribute to building a peaceful Afghanistan.

“They have done no harm to anyone. We strongly urge the Taliban to immediately release Mr. King and Mr. Weeks unharmed…

“We will not stop trying to work for your release. We urge your kidnappers to release you at once.”

Kidnapping of foreigners is a recurring phenomenon in Afghanistan involving both the militant factions as well as criminal syndicates.

Last month, the Taliban rejected allegations by the recently-freed Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle that the militants raped his wife and killed one of their infant children while the family was being held hostage.

Joshua Boyle and his pregnant American wife Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012. They were released from captivity in October in Pakistan’s tribal area.