Korea readies for long battle over hostages
Korea readies for long battle over hostages
Taliban resumes threat to kill: AIP
The Taliban yesterday resumed its threat to kill the 21 South Korean hostages as Seoul officials and the Taliban struggled to come up with an appropriate venue to hold a direct face-to-face meeting, originally targeted for the past weekend.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, in the meantime, were set to hold the first of the two-day-long summit talks late last night.
The two presidents were expected to discuss how to solve the crisis, the new Afghan administration's largest ever abduction case.
Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi as saying that the South Korean government was not putting enough efforts to release the Taliban prisoners.
In a telephone conversation with the news agency, Ahmadi admitted the group has been contacted directly by the South Korean government and that the Seoul officials were “repeating” how they were putting their best efforts to get consensus from the United States for the prisoner swap and to acquire the United Nations’ security guarantees for the face-to-face meeting.
Conflicting Ahmadi’s claims, Japan’s Asahi Shinbun reported that the South Korean government has informed the Taliban that it has no control over the decision to release the imprisoned Taliban fighters.
Taliban demand they need United Nations security guarantees should the face-to-face negotiations be held outside Taliban-controlled areas.
“But these efforts are not enough to solve the abduction case that has entered its 16th day,” Ahmadi was quoted as saying.
“As we can no longer wait, we can kill the hostages anytime,” Ahmadi said.
The Taliban had shown a more flexible position later last week as preparations began for a direct contact between South Korea and the Taliban.
The resumed threat appeared to be an attempt to pressure South Korea in the stalling preparation.
Later in the evening, a South Korean government official told reporters that a Korean Embassy official in Afghanistan was able to have a direct telephone conversation with one of the hostages on Saturday.
“During the telephone contact with the kidnap group, we were able to talk to one of the hostages on the 4th in the afternoon,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The conversation was brief. We cannot reveal the content for the sake of the captives’ safety.” The official also declined to give specifics on the identity of the hostage or who initiated the direct contact.
The Afghan government has vowed not to bow to the Taliban's demands for a prisoner swap and the United States agrees that no concessions will be made to terrorists.
The two governments have also agreed that they will not launch military rescue operations without Seoul's consent, Yonhap News reported, citing an unidentified diplomatic source.
"There have been a series of reports of (possible) military operations against the Taliban, but the U.S. has reaffirmed its stance not to launch a military operation without the consent of the South Korean government," the source in Washington was quoted as saying.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi was also quoted by China's Xinhua news agency as saying that Kabul would not launch a rescue operation without clearance from President Karzai.
Raising new speculation of Pakistan's possible involvement in the case, the Ghazni governor said it would be better for Korea to pressure the Pakistani government to help, Reuters reported.
Accusing Pakistan's state intelligence agency of working with the militants holding the hostages, Merajuddin Pathan was quoted as telling Reuters, "In the beginning it was the local Taliban, but after a few days, Pakistani Taliban and Inter Service Intelligence officers disguised as Taliban arrived in the region and they took control."
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was quoted as telling U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation last week that Pakistan has no links or contacts with the Taliban.
Taliban spokesman Ahmadi also denied the connection.
“There is no Pakistani intelligence official within the kidnappers or any Pakistani member in the Taliban,” he was quoted as telling the Afghan Islamic Press.
Pakistan's intelligence service is dubbed the "godfather of the Taliban" in Afghanistan, reportedly playing a key role in the Taliban's power seize in 1996.
The Taliban spokesman was also quoted as saying in news reports that the group would deliberate over an offer by a team of private Afghan doctors to treat the remaining hostages, two of whom are reported to be seriously ill.
A group of Afghan doctors led by Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaaj have been waiting in Ghazni to see the hostages.
In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the United States does not oppose Seoul's contacts with the kidnappers, as talks continued over the weekend on how to arrange a direct meeting between South Korea and the Taliban.
"Conversations are not anything that anyone's ever objected to any more than we would object to a police negotiator talking to a hostage taker here domestically," he said.
Twenty-three South Korean church aid workers were taken hostage on July 19. Two males have since been shot dead, including the leader of the group, pastor Bae Hyung-kyu.
The Taliban demands at least eight of its prisoners be released in exchange for the remaining hostages.
By Lee Joo-hee
(angiely@heraldm.com)
2007.08.06
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