GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AP) - South Korean and Afghan officials searched for a meeting place August 2 after agreeing to hold face-to-face talks with the Taliban to seek the release of the remaining 21 South Korean captives, a chief negotiator said.
Taliban captors have agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador, but they have not yet found a suitable place, said Waheedullah Mujadidi, head of a delegation negotiating with the Taliban.
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the South Koreans had not requested direct talks with the militants, but the insurgents would be willing to hold such a meeting in Taliban-controlled territory.
The Taliban "want to negotiate directly with the Koreans because the Kabul administration is not sincere about releasing the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi told by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"This problem belongs to only the Korean government and the Korean people, and that's why the Taliban Islamic Emirate has told the Korean government to force the Kabul administration and to force the U.S. government to release the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi said.
A South Korean Embassy official in Kabul would not confirm any Korean efforts to hold face-to-face talks with Taliban.
After the latest of a series of deadlines passed on August 1, Ahmadi said the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, but two of the women were very sick and could die from illness.
Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaaj, head of a private clinic in Kabul, said six Afghan health workers would go to Ghazni on August 3 in a bid to treat the sick hostages.
"Our aim is just treatment of the patients," Wahaaj said at his clinic in Kabul. "I don't think that the Taliban would harm us because we are doctors, and there will be some Taliban who might need our help."
As the drama surrounding the South Korean captives entered its 15th day, Newsweek magazine reported a regional Taliban commander claiming to be the mastermind behind the abductions as saying the militants might prolong the crisis to embarrass President Hamid Karzai.
The commander, who did not give his name, said that militants want to secure the freedom of eight Taliban prisoners in exchange for all the South Korean hostages. He also said the 16 women among the captives were safe for now.
None of the claims could be independently verified, but Afghan officials have said that the militants have demanded the release of local Taliban fighters from Ghazni province as well as a former militia spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, who was arrested by Afghan intelligence agents earlier this year.
The Afghan government has said it is opposed to a prisoner swap, concerned it could encourage more kidnappings.
The 23 Koreans were kidnapped in Ghazni province on July 19 as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets on Wednesday telling citizens that they needed to move to government-controlled areas to avoid upcoming military action.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the mission, the start of which could be days or weeks away, had been long-planned and had no connection to the Korean kidnapping case - but a show of military force in the region could place the kidnappers under further pressure.
At a regional Asian security conference in the Philippines, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte agreed to place top priority on safely freeing the hostages, ruling out a military option for ending the standoff, a South Korean official said August 2. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Meanwhile, a delegation of eight South Korean lawmakers departed for Washington on August 2 to urge the United States to help negotiate the release of the hostages.
"We will sincerely plead with the United States to take more substantial and meaningful measures to resolve this crisis," Rep. Cheon Young-se of the Democratic Labor Party said before the delegation set off.
They will meet U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
The delegation also plans to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea's former foreign minister.
Earlier South Korean diplomatic efforts - including sending a presidential envoy to Afghanistan and phone calls between President Roh Moo-hyun and Afghan President Hamid Karzai - failed to bend Afghanistan's refusal to respond to Taliban demands.
In Ghazni, Taliban fighters ambushed the Rashidan district police chief on Wednesday, and the ensuing gun battle left five suspected militants and one policeman dead, said Abdul Razaq Mashal, the police chief who was also wounded. He said the policemen were on their way to the governor's home when they were attacked. Mullah Omar, the Taliban's elusive leader whose whereabouts are unknown, appointed three members of the Taliban's high council to oversee the hostage situation, Ahmadi said. The three have the power to order the killings of the Koreans at any time, he said.
Taliban captors have agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador, but they have not yet found a suitable place, said Waheedullah Mujadidi, head of a delegation negotiating with the Taliban.
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the South Koreans had not requested direct talks with the militants, but the insurgents would be willing to hold such a meeting in Taliban-controlled territory.
The Taliban "want to negotiate directly with the Koreans because the Kabul administration is not sincere about releasing the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi told by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"This problem belongs to only the Korean government and the Korean people, and that's why the Taliban Islamic Emirate has told the Korean government to force the Kabul administration and to force the U.S. government to release the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi said.
A South Korean Embassy official in Kabul would not confirm any Korean efforts to hold face-to-face talks with Taliban.
After the latest of a series of deadlines passed on August 1, Ahmadi said the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, but two of the women were very sick and could die from illness.
Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaaj, head of a private clinic in Kabul, said six Afghan health workers would go to Ghazni on August 3 in a bid to treat the sick hostages.
"Our aim is just treatment of the patients," Wahaaj said at his clinic in Kabul. "I don't think that the Taliban would harm us because we are doctors, and there will be some Taliban who might need our help."
As the drama surrounding the South Korean captives entered its 15th day, Newsweek magazine reported a regional Taliban commander claiming to be the mastermind behind the abductions as saying the militants might prolong the crisis to embarrass President Hamid Karzai.
The commander, who did not give his name, said that militants want to secure the freedom of eight Taliban prisoners in exchange for all the South Korean hostages. He also said the 16 women among the captives were safe for now.
None of the claims could be independently verified, but Afghan officials have said that the militants have demanded the release of local Taliban fighters from Ghazni province as well as a former militia spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, who was arrested by Afghan intelligence agents earlier this year.
The Afghan government has said it is opposed to a prisoner swap, concerned it could encourage more kidnappings.
The 23 Koreans were kidnapped in Ghazni province on July 19 as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets on Wednesday telling citizens that they needed to move to government-controlled areas to avoid upcoming military action.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the mission, the start of which could be days or weeks away, had been long-planned and had no connection to the Korean kidnapping case - but a show of military force in the region could place the kidnappers under further pressure.
At a regional Asian security conference in the Philippines, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte agreed to place top priority on safely freeing the hostages, ruling out a military option for ending the standoff, a South Korean official said August 2. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Meanwhile, a delegation of eight South Korean lawmakers departed for Washington on August 2 to urge the United States to help negotiate the release of the hostages.
"We will sincerely plead with the United States to take more substantial and meaningful measures to resolve this crisis," Rep. Cheon Young-se of the Democratic Labor Party said before the delegation set off.
They will meet U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
The delegation also plans to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea's former foreign minister.
Earlier South Korean diplomatic efforts - including sending a presidential envoy to Afghanistan and phone calls between President Roh Moo-hyun and Afghan President Hamid Karzai - failed to bend Afghanistan's refusal to respond to Taliban demands.
In Ghazni, Taliban fighters ambushed the Rashidan district police chief on Wednesday, and the ensuing gun battle left five suspected militants and one policeman dead, said Abdul Razaq Mashal, the police chief who was also wounded. He said the policemen were on their way to the governor's home when they were attacked. Mullah Omar, the Taliban's elusive leader whose whereabouts are unknown, appointed three members of the Taliban's high council to oversee the hostage situation, Ahmadi said. The three have the power to order the killings of the Koreans at any time, he said.
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