In the case of Ms. Wilson, 60, the Australian government confirmed her identity, and her father, Brian Wilson, appealed for her release in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Mail.

“I presume she’s a hostage, and that they’ll do their best to keep her alive and not harm her, simply because they want to have something or other in return and it’s not very good having a dead hostage,” the paper quoted Mr. Wilson as saying.

Ms. Wilson ran the Zardozi organization, which promotes the work of Afghan artisans, particularly women, and sold their handicrafts primarily to foreign residents here and abroad. The group’s items were sold in Ganjina, a popular handicraft venue in central Kabul that has shut down because of security concerns and a decline in customers.

The Afghan police believe that many of the kidnappings of foreigners have been carried out by criminal gangs motivated by ransom. The fear is that such groups could sell their hostages to extremist organizations. Several of those kidnapped, such as the German and Dutch citizens taken last year, have been released, but it is not known whether ransoms were paid.

Afghan citizens working for aid groups are frequently kidnapped while in the field, but in most cases they are released unharmed after negotiations with insurgents and community leaders. That was the case with five Afghan employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who were abducted in Ghazni Province in February but released unharmed after four days. Last year, however, five Afghan workers for the Save the Children charity were abducted and murdered in southern Oruzgan Province.

The kidnappings of foreigners in Kabul have been concentrated in the Taimani neighborhood, where many foreign aid workers and journalists have homes and offices. The attempt on Monday also took place in Taimani, said Fraidoon Obaidy, who leads the criminal investigation division for the Kabul police. Despite the embassy’s statement, however, he said it was apparently an attempted carjacking of the aid group’s vehicle. “There was no proof that showed it was a kidnapping attempt,” he said.