KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An Afghan television journalist detained as the country voted in its second parliamentary election has been released, NATO said.

Hojatullah Mujadadi, who worked for state-run Radio Television Afghanistan in Kapisa province, "has been released by Afghan authorities", NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement late Friday.

He was picked up on September 18 by Afghan security forces for reasons that remain unclear.

Two other Afghan journalists -- both working for Al Jazeera television -- were also released Friday after being detained separately by the coalition over alleged links to the Taliban.

Cameraman Mohammad Nader was picked up from his home in Kandahar city on Wednesday and Rahmatullah Nekzad, also a cameraman working for Al Jazeera and US news agency Associated Press, was detained in Ghazni province on Monday.

President Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered the information and culture minister to investigate the detentions and secure the journalists' release.

Local media rights advocates criticised the arrests as a violation of freedom of speech in the war-scarred nation, where Islamist insurgents have been battling to topple a Western-backed democracy since 2001.