GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 9 August 2007 — South Korea’s ambassador told tribal elders from eastern Afghanistan yesterday that Korean aid organizations would pull out of the country in a month, an apparent effort to help free 21 hostages being held by Taleban militants, a news report said.
The governor of the region where the hostages are being held, meanwhile, said South Korean officials and Taleban militants were close to agreeing on a location for a face-to-face meeting. Gov. Marajudin Pathan also said he thought the Taleban’s demand of a release of prisoners was a dead issue, but that a ransom payment might solve the hostage crisis.
South Korean Ambassador Kang Sung-zu told Pashtun tribal leaders from Nangarhar province that Korea wouldn’t let any more of its citizens or aid organizations travel to Afghanistan, and that aid organizations currently in the country would have to leave within a month, the Afghan TV station Tolo reported.
The ambassador also said that if the 21 hostages are released and if the Afghan government can provide a security guarantee, then Korean aid organizations might one day return to the country. The Pashtun tribal leaders who traveled to the South Korean Embassy in Kabul come from the same ethnic tribe that the majority of Taleban fighters are from. The embassy spokesman did not answer his phone late yesterday.
The 23 South Koreans were abducted July 19 in Qarabagh as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. Two of the captives have since been executed by the Taleban. Pathan, the local governor, said medicines donated by an Afghan doctor and the Korean government have helped the hostages, and that two captives who were extremely ill have recovered. He said the captives are being held in four groups in Ghazni province — three in Qarabagh district and one in Andar district.
Taleban militants, meanwhile, clashed with police in the same district where the Koreans were abducted, police said. Four militants were killed and six wounded. The militants withdrew after exchanging fire for about an hour with police at a checkpoint in Qarabagh district on Tuesday, said Mohammad Zaman, the deputy provincial police chief. He said no police were hurt in the clash.
There was no immediate indication that Tuesday’s clash was linked to the hostage crisis. There has not yet been a breakthrough in negotiations almost three weeks into the hostage ordeal. The captives — volunteers from a church group who planned to do health work in Afghanistan — include 16 women and five men.
“We are trying to secure their release through negotiations,” said Zemarai Bashary, the spokesman for Interior Ministry. Authorities are putting pressure on the elders, tribal leaders and clerics of the area to convince the Taleban to free the captives, Bashary said.
