GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 11 August 2007 — Two top Taleban leaders and four South Korean officials met yesterday for face-to-face negotiations on the fate of 21 hostages from the Asian country, the first in-person contact of the three-week-old crisis, an Afghan official said.
A Taleban spokesman said that two members of the Taleban’s top council had been promised safe passage by the Afghan government to meet with the South Korean negotiators.
The meeting began at 4 p.m. at the office of the Afghan Red Cross in Ghazni, near where the Koreans were kidnapped, said the Afghan official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to release the information.
He said four members of the international Red Cross were also taking part in the negotiations.
“As long as the talks continue, there will be no problem for the hostages,” Qari Mohammad Yousef said by telephone.
The Taleban kidnapped 23 Christian volunteers, 18 of them women, more than three weeks ago from a bus in Ghazni which lies some 140 km to the southwest of Kabul.
The group killed two male captives after deadlines passed without their demands being met, which prompted South Korea to seek face-to-face talks with the Taleban. Its main demand is the release of Taleban prisoners held by Kabul.
Seoul says it has no power to free jailed Taleban and President Hamid Karzai’s government has ruled out any swap of prisoners after it came under harsh criticism for freeing a group of Taleban in return for an Italian journalist in March.
Afghan government officials have said that force might be used to rescue the hostages if the talks fail, and have sent troops to Ghazni.
The Taleban have divided the hostages into several groups and have said any use of force to free them would put their lives at risk.
