GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 17 August 2007 — Talks yesterday between Afghanistan’s Taleban and a South Korean delegation trying to free 19 hostages ended with the hard-line militants reporting no progress. The two sides met for three hours in the small town of Ghanzi, south of Kabul, said a Taleban spokesman and a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross that has been facilitating the meetings.
Taleban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told reporters that representatives of his militant movement had demanded the release of eight Taleban prisoners. “But so far our demands have not been accepted and there has been no development in the negotiations,” Ahmadi said.
A Red Cross official said it was not immediately clear if there would be a new round of discussions today. The Taleban have killed two of the 23 South Korean aid workers they abducted July 19 and threatened to kill more. On Monday, they released two women hostages as a “gesture of good will.”
Meanwhile, US and Afghan air and ground forces pounded Al-Qaeda militants for a second day yesterday in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistan border where Osama Bin Laden once fled in the wake of the 2001 invasion. The steep slopes of the mountains are riddled with cave and tunnel complexes built by Afghan and Arab fighters during the 1980s struggle against the Soviet occupation and provide an ideal hide-out for guerrilla fighters.
“It is a joint operation conducted by Afghan and US forces, divided by ground and air assets,” said Capt. Vanessa Bowman, spokeswoman for US-led coalition forces.
