KABUL, Afghanistan  Three journalists for the British newspaper The Guardian were released unharmed on Wednesday after being kidnapped last week by an armed gang in a rugged and remote part of eastern Afghanistan, the newspaper said.

The journalists, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who is Iraqi, and two Afghan colleagues, had spent six days in cold and snowy conditions surviving on soup, tea and bread, the newspaper reported. It credited efforts by representatives and intermediaries in Afghanistan but did not release details, including the names of the two Afghans, to “avoid compromising the security of those involved, particularly those remaining in Afghanistan.”

The newspaper described the three as “exhausted but in good spirits.”

The men had traveled to Kunar Province, a mountainous Taliban stronghold along the border with Pakistan, to interview militants. After last hearing from Mr. Abdul-Ahad on Dec. 9, The Guardian said, it was informed two days later that the men had been kidnapped.

Following the practice of other news organizations whose reporters have been kidnapped during the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, including The New York Times, The Guardian withheld disclosure of the abductions while efforts to secure the release of the three were under way.