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WASHINGTON, Jul 18 (OneWorld) - Today's kidnapping of two French aid workers in central Afghanistan represented another blow to humanitarian groups committed to helping those in the greatest need around the world.

Afghan children. © Jason Stobbs / Action Against Hunger The two relief workers are members of Action Contre le Faim (ACF), a French nonprofit whose U.S. affiliate, Action Against Hunger, is based in New York.

The two were kidnapped as they were leaving a guesthouse where many nonprofit aid workers reside, in Daykundi province, located in the center of the country.

The organization immediately suspended all relief operations in Afghanistan and denounced what it called "a criminal act affecting -- once again -- the integrity of humanitarian actors and threatening assistance to the civilian populations."

The anti-hunger group has been providing assistance to poor Afghanis continually since 1979, aid that continued through the conflict with Russian troops and more recently, the U.S. invasion, after which Afghanistan became the largest recipient of ACF food and related aid.

In 2007, the group distributed seeds benefiting some 130,000 people.

Afghanistan is listed as one of the world's "Hunger Hotspots" by ReliefWeb, a UN Web site providing critical information on the response to humanitarian emergencies.

The country is currently experiencing a severe drought, affecting some 1.5 million people in 19 of its 34 provinces.

Drought and hunger are fueling a growing sex trade, according to women interviewed by the IRIN News service in Mazar-I-Sharif, despite the penalties against women found guilty of engaging in sex out of marriage, including imprisonment and death.

"High food prices, drought, unemployment, and lack of socio-economic opportunities are pushing some women and young girls in northern Afghanistan into commercial sex work," women's rights activists and others told IRIN.

It is too soon to know whether the armed kidnappers purposely targeted members of a neutral, non-partisan, nonprofit group working to alleviate hunger. Last year French aid workers were kidnapped to protest the presence of French troops in Afghanistan.

OneWorld TV: Addicted in Afghanistan

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