An Australian and an American have been kidnapped at gunpoint in Kabul, according to reports from Afghanistan.

Local police said the men were professors from the American University of Afghanistan, saying the pair was kidnapped from the campus.

It is the country’s only private university.

The pair worked at the American University of Afghanistan and were snatched by men disguised as National Security officers on Sunday night, media reports say.

A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs the Australian embassy in Afghanistan was seeking to verify reports of the kidnapping. The US State Department is aware of the reports.

“We are aware of reports of a US citizen kidnapped in Kabul. Due to privacy considerations, we have no information to offer,” the State Department said in a media statement.

ABC America said Kabul’s police chief Abdel Rahman Rahimi had confirmed the abductions.

The university is a private, not-for-profit university, which has received millions from the US Agency for International Development.

Afghanistan remains locked in a violent insurgency and Western embassies typically warn their citizens against all but essential travel in the country, citing threats of attack and kidnapping.

The news comes days after the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on a group of foreign tourists in the country’s west.

“The Australian Embassy in Afghanistan is seeking to verify reports of the kidnapping of an Australian in Kabul,” a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesperson said.

-with AAP, ABC