This thread dedicate to the news from Afghanistan

 

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Three NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan amid intense battles

 

 

KABUL (AFP) - A blast ripped through a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan , killing three troops in an attack claimed by the Taliban, as a policeman died in a suicide bombing similar to scores by the extremist group.

 

The deaths took to five the number of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers killed since the weekend in a series of engagements -- some of them the most intense in weeks -- that have left nearly 140 rebels dead.

 

The soldiers were on patrol in the mountainous eastern province of Nuristan, bordering Pakistan, when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle, ISAF said in a statement. Two soldiers were killed and two wounded, one of whom died later.

 

The nationalities of the troops were not released by the 37-country ISAF, which says it is the responsibility of the troops' home nations. Most of the soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are from the United States.

 

More than 115 foreign soldiers have been killed in action in Afghanistan so far this year, up from around 75 last year.

 

A purported spokesman for the extremist Taliban movement said it had carried out the attack with a remote-controlled device.

 

Near-daily roadside bombings are a key feature of the spiralling Taliban insurgency launched after the hardliners were forced out of government in 2001.

 

A suicide bombing in southern Ghazni province's Taliban-dominated Ander district also bore the hallmarks of the extremist group, which has claimed responsibility for scores of such attacks this year.

 

A man detonated explosives strapped to his body just steps away from a police patrol, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

 

One of our policemen was martyred and another was wounded," he told AFP.

 

The Afghan intelligence agency announced meanwhile that it was holding three would-be suicide bombers whom it said had been sent from militant outfits based in Pakistan to carry out attacks in Kabul.

 

The city was badly shaken by a spate of seven suicide attacks over as many weeks in September and October that killed nearly 40 people, including foreign soldiers.

 

ISAF said this month there had been 91 suicide attacks nationwide this year. The attacks killed 155 civilians, 40 members of the Afghan security forces, six government officials and 14 foreign troops, it said.

 

The Taliban insurgency has peaked this year with the rebels taking on security forces in sophisticated conventional-style warfare.

 

They have however suffered heavy losses against the superior might of the foreign forces, with ISAF commanders saying their defeats have led them to revert to relying on guerrilla-style tactics.

 

The rebels have been pounded in three major engagements since Saturday.

 

In the first, Afghan and ISAF troops killed up to 70 insurgents in a battle involving attack helicopters and air support in Uruzgan province in the south.

 

 

On Monday the force killed 55 insurgents in an intense six-hour battle in the neighbouring province of Zabul.

 

Later the same day, ISAF warplanes killed 12 insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar after the fighters were spotted moving into position on the roof of a compound, a statement said Tuesday.

 

The force also lost two soldiers -- one in Zabul and one in Uruzgan -- on top of the two killed Tuesday.

Extremist networks have also come under pressure just across the border in

 

Pakistan, with Pakistani helicopter gunships destroying an Islamic school allegedly used as an Al-Qaeda-linked training camp on Monday.

 

The Pakistan military said up to 80 suspected militants were killed in the airstrike in the troubled Bajaur tribal agency, but local leaders insisted that

most of the dead were teenage students.

The strike was one of the biggest ever in Pakistan's frontier region, where many Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents have sought sanctuary since 2001.

NATO attacks Taliban fighters near Kabul

 

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO forces struck a suspected insurgent compound in rare violence near Kabul and battles continued Saturday in the area, NATO said, while Afghan authorities reported a dozen people dead in attacks.

 

NATO troops backed by warplanes launched a raid Friday north of Kabul, hitting a compound with eight to 10 suspected Taliban fighters inside, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a NATO spokesman. Most of the recent fighting in Afghanistan has been concentrated in the country's south and east, close to the border with Pakistan.

 

Knittig said he did not know how many insurgents were killed in ongoing fighting in the Tagab Valley, some 40 miles northeast of Kabul. The operation "is going to address known areas where the Taliban, we suspect, are seeking safe haven," he said. "If that's close to Kabul, then so be it."

 

Militants have been stepping up attacks the last several months around Afghanistan, which has seen its deadliest period of violence since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden

 

A photographer kidnapped in Afghanistan last month and freed Friday returned home to Italy on Saturday. Relatives and officials greeted the photographer, Gabriele Torsello, at Rome's Ciampino airport.

 

"I am well. Thank you, Italy," Torsello said moments after stepping off the plane, wearing traditional Afghan dress and with a long, full beard.

Torsello, 36, was kidnapped Oct. 12 while traveling by bus from Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, to neighboring Kandahar, said Ettore Francesco Sequi, Italy's ambassador to Afghanistan. His captors left him on the side of a road Friday.

 

A NATO airstrike in Helmand province on Thursday killed nine militants and wounded 30, the Defense Ministry said. The airstrike came after a rocket attack on an Afghan army base, it said. The statement did not explain how officials counted the dead or wounded, nor did it specify where in Helmand province the airstrike hit.

 

Taliban fighters on Friday attacked a supply convoy heading to a NATO base in Khost province, killing two Pakistani drivers and wounding an Afghan driver, said Gen. Anan Roufi, Paktia's provincial police chief. The attackers opened fire on the trucks in a mountainous area between Paktia and Khost provinces.

Militants also attacked an Afghan army patrol in the eastern province of Laghman on Thursday, killing one solider and injuring three, the Defense Ministry said.

 

In Helmand province, meanwhile, 10 schools that have been closed the last 10 months for security reasons reopened Saturday, said Siafulmaluk Noori, the provincial education director. The schools were able to reopen after tribal elders said they would help protect them, he said.

More than 160 schools have been attacked around Afghanistan this year, up from 146 during all of last year.

 

Most have been nighttime arson attacks that hurt no one a tactic aimed at undermining the reach of President Hamid Karzai's government, which reversed the fundamentalist Taliban's ban on girls' education. Between 5 million and 6 million children now attend school in Afghanistan, including some 2 million girls.

US troops open fire on civilians, Afghan doctor killed

 

KABUL (AFP) - US troops opened fire on a civilian car on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, causing a traffic accident that killed an Afghan doctor and wounded four other people, officials said.

 

The NATO -led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement a civilian van was "observed driving suspiciously" Wednesday near a US patrol on a road between Kabul and the main US base at Bagram, north of the city.

 

"ISAF troops signalled for the vehicle to stop and fired a number of shots. The driver subsequently lost control of the van and unfortunately crashed," it said on Thursday.

 

"Regrettably, one of the civilians was killed and four were injured."

 

The Afghan interior ministry confirmed the incident saying it involved US troops and it had been told the dead man was a doctor. Reports said he had been working at a health facility in Bagram.

 

Civilian deaths caused by foreign troops have become increasingly sensitive in Afaghnistan with human rights groups expressing alarm at the mounting toll which is disaffecting the population.

 

ISAF soldiers were accused of killing scores of civilians in an October 24 raid against Taliban fighters in the southern province of Kandahar. The force has not released the results of its investigation but The New York Times last week cited a senior ISAF official saying 31 civilians were killed.

 

Wednesday's incident was not far from where a deadly traffic accident involving a US military truck sparked day-long rioting in May in the centre of Kabul. Around a dozen people were killed.

Officials: Afghanistan needs more troops

 

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - More troops and sophisticated equipment are needed to bolster Afghanistan 's security forces, but it is not clear whether more U.S. troops will be deployed there, U.S. and Afghan defense officials said Tuesday.

 

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told Pentagon reporters that U.S. officials will wait until after next week's NATO summit in Latvia to see how many troops other countries plan to provide before deciding if more U.S. forces must be sent to Afghanistan.

 

"I think it will be best at this point to wait and see what NATO is able to provide," Eikenberry said. "There's more meetings that are taking place on the military staff. And this is very high on their agenda."

 

U.S. military leaders have been pushing NATO members to meet their commitments and provide more troops in Afghanistan. For months, officials have said that NATO nations have provided only 85 percent of the support they promised. There is a NATO-led force of about 30,000 in Afghanistan, including some 12,000 U.S. troops. An additional 11,000 American troops are there under U.S. control, conducting counterterrorism operations and other training and reconstruction duties.

 

The Afghan minister of defense, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, who met Tuesday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said his country needs more firepower, transport planes and armored vehicles. The Afghans have asked for additional helicopters and aircraft that can move troops and supplies through the mountainous regions.

 

Eikenberry said some body armor, helmets and other equipment are already being provided to the Afghan National Army. He added that there have been no final decisions on what other weapons and aircraft would be provided, and therefore he could not provide any cost estimate.

 

He said now is an appropriate time to give the Afghans more sophisticated equipment because they are better able to operate and maintain the equipment. It will be less expensive to equip the Afghans than continue to use

U.S. troops and equipment in the war there, he said.

 

Wardak said Afghanistan is accelerating its training program for the army, and hopes to have about 70,000 troops by October 2008 — several years ahead of schedule. He said officials are hoping that NATO "will take a more effective role in equipping and training the Afghan national security forces."

 

"Once we are well-trained and well-equipped, we will be able to repay some of our debt to the international community by participating in peacekeeping operations," said Wardak, adding that Afghanistan would also be able to be "a permanent part of the war against terrorism."

 

In other comments, Eikenberry said the ongoing hunt for Osama bin Laden continues, and it "remains as much of a priority as it has since the United States of America was struck on 9/11."

NATO troops plan to retake Afghan town

 

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants who overran a southern Afghan town have reportedly reinforced their positions, but NATO and Afghan troops will recapture the area if the fighters don't leave, top NATO and Afghan officials said Saturday.

Hundreds of residents were reported to be fleeing the town of Musa Qala fearing that NATO would move in with force, two villagers said.

 

Gen. David Richards, the outgoing British commander of the NATO-led force, said his troops will not use "force in the way I think some people are concerned about" in trying to recapture Musa Qala, which British troops left after a contentious peace agreement in October.

 

Hundreds of Taliban militants overran the town Thursday evening, destroying the government center, temporarily holding elders hostage and hoisting their white flag, officials and residents said.

 

Some Taliban militants remained in the town, and there were reports they were reinforcing their positions, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

 

"It is only a matter of time before (the) government re-establishes control, and that is going to happen," Collins said.

 

Richards said NATO would be careful during the offensive to protect "the lives and property" of the residents.

 

From June until September Musa Qala witnessed intense battles between Taliban fighters and British troops based in the fortified center. The fighting caused widespread damage to the surrounding town of around 10,000 inhabitants, most of whom fled.

 

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said the situation in Musa Qala was not clear. He said local elders — who were in charge of security as part of the October peace deal — may have already pushed the Taliban out.

 

"If there is a need for an operation, there will be one," Wardak said.

 

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the Taliban took over Musa Qala in response to a number of NATO attacks on the militants in the area, which he said violated the agreement.

 

The militants' assault, days after a Taliban commander was killed outside the town, raises doubts about the future of the peace deal, which has been criticized by some Western officials as a NATO retreat in hostile Taliban territory.

 

But NATO said the Taliban were never part of the agreement and "by their actions, the Taliban have ended over four months of peace in Musa Qala which, until now, had seen a return to normality with reconstruction and development getting under way."

 

"It is very clear that the Taliban are acting against the wishes of the people of Musa Qala," NATO said in a statement.

 

British forces are based in Helmand province but left Musa Qala in October after a peace agreement was signed between elders and the Helmand governor, with the support of British forces. According to the deal, security was turned over to local leaders, while NATO forces were prevented from entering the town.

 

Mohammad Wali, a resident of Musa Qala, said a number of Taliban fighters were around the damaged town center Saturday, where the white Taliban flag was hoisted. Hundreds of residents had fled, fearing that fighting between NATO and militants would resume, he said.

 

Lal Mohammad, another resident, said the Taliban were in control of the town and were being led by Haji Mullah Gafoor, the hardline militia's corps commander in western Afghanistan during the Taliban regime.

The armies of the world are doing a good job at keeping most of the news of what really is going on in Afgan away from the press.

 

But I'm not allowed to say some of the news I have read when on camp (offical secrets act)

The armies of the world are doing a good job at keeping most of the news of what really is going on in Afgan away from the press.

 

But I'm not allowed to say some of the news I have read when on camp (offical secrets act)

 

 

Don't worry about the secrets, sooner or later everyone will know it.

Taliban negotiate over Korean hostages

 

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

 

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan clerics and tribal elders are negotiating for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, who a Taliban spokesman said Thursday have been split into small groups and are being fed bread, yogurt and rice a week after their capture.

 

A local police chief said the talks have been difficult because the Taliban's demands were unclear.

 

"One says, 'Let's exchange them for my relative,' the others say, 'Let's release the women,' and yet another wants a deal for money," said Khwaja Mohammad Sidiqi, police chief in Qarabagh. "They have got problems among themselves."

 

The Taliban reiterated their demand that jailed militants be freed in exchange for the captives, and set the latest of several deadlines — midday Friday — for the condition to be met or more hostages would be killed.

 

One of the original group of 23 abducted Koreans, a 42-year-old pastor, was found slain with multiple gunshots Wednesday. Authorities recovered the body of Bae Hyung-kyu in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, where the South Koreans were seized on July 19.

 

Bae, a founder of the Saemmul Presbyterian Church, led its volunteer work in Afghanistan and was killed on his birthday, South Korean church officials said. An official at the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said authorities were arranging to repatriate the body.

 

His mother, 68-year-old Lee Chang-suk, broke into tears as she watched the televised government announcement of his death. "I never thought it possible," she said from the southern island of Jeju, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

 

At the church, about 1,000 people gathered Thursday evening to mourn Bae and pray for the other captives, many crying and consoling each other.

 

Relatives of other abductees, meanwhile, appealed anew for their relatives' release.

 

"We hope the negotiations between the Afghan government and Taliban go well," said Kim Kyung-ja, mother of hostage Lee Sun-young. "Please send our lovely children home."

 

Cha Sung-min, 31, whose 32-year-old sister Cha Hye-jin was being held, said the families were struggling.

 

"After hearing the sad news, yesterday was a very difficult day," Cha said.

 

"We believe the best way right now is to trust our government."

South Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said the 22 South Koreans still believed held were not suffering health problems. He said South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun had spoken with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the situation.

 

But one of the hostages, who identified herself as Yo Syun Ju, told an Afghan journalist by telephone that all the hostages were sick, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. She pleaded for help to secure their release.

 

"Tell them to do something to get us released," she said in an interview in the presence of the Taliban militants holding her captive.

 

Yo, who said she was from Seoul, described her situation as "dangerous."

"Day by day it is getting very difficult," she said in the interview obtained by the BBC. "We are all sick and we have a lot of problems."

 

 

Local tribal elders and religious clerics who have respect among the people of Qarabagh district, where the Taliban kidnapped the South Koreans, have been conducting negotiations with the captors for several days.

 

The negotiations have been held over the telephone, said Ghazni police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai.

 

"We will not use force against the militants to free the hostages," Ahmadzai said. "The best way in this case is dialogue."

 

Waheedullah Mujadidi, who heads the delegation, complained that the Taliban were not being consistent during the negotiations.

 

The Taliban at one point demanded that 23 jailed militants be freed in exchange for the Koreans. It is not clear how many militants the Taliban want freed or which ones.

 

Afghanistan's government brokered a much-criticized prisoner swap in March in which five captive Taliban fighters were freed for the release of Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo. The militants killed Mastrogiacomo's translator and driver.

 

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the hard-line Islamist Taliban, said they had been contacted by Afghanistan's deputy interior minister, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Munir Mangal, who said the government would make a decision regarding the militants' demands by noon Friday.

 

"If Kabul administration does not solve our problem ... then we do not have any option but to kill Korean hostages," Ahmadi said.

 

"The Taliban are not asking for money. We just want to exchange our prisoners for Korean hostages. ... When they release the Taliban, we will release the hostages," Ahmadi said by phone from an undisclosed location.

 

Ahmadi said the 22 hostages were being held in small groups in different locations and were being fed "no burgers ... but the same food that our villagers have — bread, yogurt, rice."

 

The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while on a bus trip through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.

 

Their church said the abductees were not involved in any Christian missionary work in Afghanistan, and that they provided only medical and other volunteer aid to distressed people in the war-ravaged country. It said it will suspend some of its volunteer work in Afghanistan.

 

Two Germans were also kidnapped last week. One was found dead and the other apparently remains captive.

In new violence, U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan troops fought two separate battles with militants in southern Afghanistan, killing more than 60 suspected Taliban insurgents. A NATO soldier was killed in another incident, officials said.

Talks stalled over S. Korean hostages

 

Talks stalled over S. Korean hostages

 

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan officials on Sunday reported no progress in talks with tribal elders to secure the release of 22 South Korean hostages held by the Taliban.

 

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the militant group had given a list of 23 insurgent prisoners it wants released in exchange for the hostages and was now waiting for the government to act.

 

"The government had told us they need time to negotiate and soon they will release the prisoners," Ahmadi said. He said the Taliban has stated their demands and no longer needs to negotiate but still has open channels with the government.

 

Two days of meetings between elders of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, where the South Korean hostages were kidnapped on July 19, and a delegation of senior officials from Kabul, yielded no results so far, said Shirin Mangal, spokesman for the Ghazni provincial governor.

 

"So far there is no progress from the meetings," Mangal said.

 

The meeting is being held behind closed doors, and Mangal did not divulge any details.

 

Two Afghan lawmakers, including a former Taliban commander, Abdul Salaam Rocketi, joined the negotiations Saturday.

 

Ahmadi complained Saturday that the Afghan delegation "doesn't have the power to release prisoners" — the key Taliban demand from the outset of the hostage crisis.

 

He said the Taliban wanted the hostages "to go home safe," but they first wanted 23 Taliban militants released from Afghan prisons.

 

A leader of the South Korean group, which was kidnapped while traveling by bus on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare, was shot and killed last week. The 22 other hostages, including 18 women, remain captive.

 

Afghan officials have said they are optimistic the hostages will be freed without further bloodshed, although the kidnappers have threatened to kill their captives if their demands are not met.

 

A South Korean presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, met Afghan's President Hamid Karzai on Sunday to discuss the hostage situation. No details of the talks were immediately available.

 

Ahmadi said the militants hoped the South Korean envoy can "persuade the Afghan government" to swap imprisoned militants for the captives.

 

"If they don't release the Taliban prisoners, then the Taliban does not have any option other than to kill the Korean hostages," he said, reiterating an earlier threat.

 

Local tribal elders and clerics from Qarabagh have been conducting negotiations by telephone with the captors for several days.

Ahmadi said the hostages were being held in small groups in different locations and that some of them were in poor health.

Taliban issues another hostage deadline

 

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

 

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Police at daybreak Tuesday discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage slain by the Taliban, officials said. A purported spokesman for the group said the man was killed because the Afghan government failed to release imprisoned insurgents.

 

The Taliban threatened to kill more hostages if their demands were not met by the latest of several deadlines — noon on Wednesday.

 

The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed that 29-year-old Shim Sung-min's body had been found. The former information technology worker was volunteering with a South Korean church group on an aid mission to Afghanistan; 21 others remain captive.

 

"The government expresses deep condolences to his family," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said. "We cannot contain our anger at this merciless killing and strongly condemn this."

 

The body was found on the side of the road in the village of Arizo Kalley in Andar District, some 6 miles west of Ghazni city, said Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator in the area.

 

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said senior Taliban leaders decided to kill the male captive Monday evening because the government had not met Taliban demands to trade prisoners for the Christian volunteers, who were in their 13th day of captivity Tuesday.

 

"The Kabul and Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said by phone from an undisclosed location.

 

The Taliban commanders set a new deadline of noon on Wednesday.

 

"If the Kabul government does not release the Taliban prisoners, then we will kill after 12 o'clock — we are going to kill Korean hostages," Ahmadi said. "It might be a man or a woman... It might be one. It might be two, four. It might be all of them."

 

The Al-Jazeera television network, meanwhile, showed shaky footage of what it said were several South Korean hostages. It did not say how it obtained the video, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified.

 

Some seven female hostages, heads veiled in accordance with the Islamic law enforced by the Taliban, were seen crouching in the dark, eyes closed or staring at the ground, expressionless.

 

The hostages did not speak as they were filmed by the hand-held camera.

 

The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on July 19, the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The Taliban has set several deadlines for the Koreans' lives. Last Wednesday the insurgents killed their first hostage, a male leader of the group.

 

The body of pastor Bae Hyung-kyu arrived back in South Korea on Monday, where the families of the remaining hostages pleaded for their loved ones' release.

 

Relatives have gathered at Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, just outside Seoul. They waited anxiously for developments — sharing prayers, meals and sleepless nights as they followed 24-hour television newscasts.

Seo Jung-bae, 59, whose daughter and son were among the hostages, appealed to the Taliban.

 

 

"Please, please send my children back so I can hold them in my arms," he told The Associated Press, fighting back tears in a plea to the captors. "Our families are the same. Your family is precious, so is mine."

 

Speaking from an emergency center set up by the church, he said his children had traveled to the country to assist Afghans in need. "They went there to help, thinking they (Afghans) are their friends."

 

It's not clear if the Afghan government would consider releasing any militant prisoners.

 

In March, President Hamid Karzai approved a deal that saw five captive Taliban fighters freed for the release of Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo. Karzai, who was criticized by the United States and European capitals over the exchange, called the trade a one-time deal.

 

On Sunday, Karzai and other Afghan officials tried to shame the Taliban into releasing the female captives by appealing to a tradition of cultural hospitality and chivalry. They called the kidnapping of women "unIslamic."

On Monday, South Korean officials changed their estimate of the number of women captives to 16, down from earlier reports of 18.

Afghan army prepares for military action

 

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

 

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Afghan army dropped leaflets Wednesday warning of impending military action in the region where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Korean hostages, though the army said the operation is not connected to the captives.

 

Another deadline passed at noon with no word that any of the hostages had been killed, while the local governor said the Taliban militants had agreed to a face-to-face meeting requested by South Korea's ambassador. Two hostages have already been killed, though several deadlines have passed with no killings.

 

In Ghazni province, where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped on July 19 while driving from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets telling citizens to move to government-controlled areas in order 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.

 

Gov. Marajudin Pathan said the Taliban agreed to a face-to-face meeting with

Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan, and officials were looking for suitable location to hold it. Pathan said he did not know when the meeting would happen. He also said another high-ranking official had arrived from South Korea to take part in talks, though he did not know the official's name or position.

 

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban militants, told The Associated Press after the noon deadline passed that the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, though two female captives were gravely ill and could die at any time.

He reiterated that the militants still wanted their key demand met — the release of Taliban prisoners in exchange for the lives of the Koreans.

 

A doctor who heads a private clinic said Afghan doctors would try to visit the hostages Friday and take them medicine. Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahwaj said he did not have permission from the militants and did not know if the attempt would be successful.

 

Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, said 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 and they have the power to order them killed at any time.

 

The South Koreans, who are all Christians from the same church, are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.

 

Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of all remaining captives.

 

The New York-based group said the Taliban have kidnapped at least 41 Afghan civilians so far this year and killed at least 23 of them. The rest remain missing.

 

"The taking of hostages is a war crime," Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

 

South Korea said it would send a parliamentary delegation to the United States to seek cooperation in resolving the crisis, and relatives of the hostages pleaded with U.S. Embassy officials during an hour-long visit for help in negotiating their loved ones' release. The families were told their message would be passed on to Washington.

 

"We will hold on to any small hope to save them," Ryu Haeng-sik, 36, whose wife Kim Yoon-yong, 35, is one of the hostages, told The Associated Press outside the embassy in Seoul, his eyes red from weeping and fatigue.

 

"We cannot say we're relieved, but there is no other way but to believe their words, that they're going to do their best," he said.

 

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "It's a difficult situation and it's one we want resolved in the best way possible, which is unharmed and safe to their families."

 

Both the families and the South Korean government have urged that previous international practice in dealing with abductions be set aside in the interest of human life — effectively asking the United States to make an exception to its policy of refusing to make concessions to terrorist demands.

 

 

But the U.S. and other countries strongly criticized Afghanistan earlier this year when it released five Taliban prisoners to win the freedom of a kidnapped Italian journalist.

 

The South Korean president's office said Wednesday that Washington was involved in efforts to win the hostages' release, but at a basic level.

"We understand their dilemma and limits," presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said.

 

"There are some views that the United States holds (the keys to) everything. But that's a lot different from the fact," he said.

 

Meanwhile, in Ghazni's Dih Yak district, police recovered the bodies of four Afghan men, one of them a local judge who disappeared a week ago while traveling from neighboring Paktia province, said Azizullah, a police official in

Ghazni who goes by one name.

 

The police found the judge's ID card on his body. All four victims had bullet wounds, Azizullah said.

Taliban fighters in Ghazni province attacked the home of government employees, killing three of them, Pathan said. Subsequent fighting also left seven Taliban dead about 40 miles south of Ghazni city.

Taliban agree to free SKorean hostages

 

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

 

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban agreed Tuesday to free 19 South Korean church volunteers held hostage since July after the government in Seoul pledged to end all missionary work and keep a promise to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

 

In eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked NATO troops helping build a bridge, killing three soldiers.

 

In striking the deal, the Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange, but may still emerge politically stronger having negotiated successfully with a foreign government, an analyst said.

 

Relatives of the hostages in South Korea welcomed news of the deal, which did not specify when the captives would be released.

 

"I would like to dance," said Cho Myung-ho, mother of 28-year-old hostage

Lee Joo-yeon.

 

The deal was made in direct talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in central Afghanistan. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

 

South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said from Seoul that the deal had been reached "on the condition that South Korea withdraws troops by the end of year and South Korea suspends missionary work in Afghanistan," he said.

 

South Korea did not appear to commit to anything it did not already planned to do. Seoul has already said it would withdraw its 200 troops in the country by the end of the year and has also sought to prevent missionaries from causing trouble in countries where they were not wanted.

 

The South Korean government and relatives of the hostages have said that the 19 kidnapped South Koreans were not missionaries, but were doing aid work such as helping in hospitals.

 

Taliban commander Mullah Basheer told a media conference following the talks that the Taliban would say Wednesday when and how the captives would be released. They are believed to be held in several different locations.

 

Missionaries from South Korea and scores of other countries have historically been active in Afghanistan, but there is no way of knowing how many are there now.

 

Most operate without the knowledge of their governments, and there is some disagreement on the boundaries between missionary work, proselytizing and Christian-inspired aid work.

 

An analyst said the Taliban, which has been leading an increasingly bloody insurgency against Afghan and Western security forces, emerged from the hostage crisis with increased political power.

 

"Maybe they did not achieve all that they demanded but they achieved a lot in terms of political credibility," said Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "The fact that the Koreans negotiated with them directly and more or less in their territory ... is

in itself an achievement."

 

Taliban spokesmen have previously said they had no interest in a ransom payment.

 

Presidential spokesman Cheon told The Associated Press that he was informed by South Korean officials in Afghanistan that money was not discussed during negotiations with the Taliban.

 

The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages. They released two women earlier this month as a good will gesture.

 

 

"We are sorry to the public for causing concern, but we thank the government officials for the (impending) release," Cha Sung-min, whose 32-year-old sister Cha Hye-jin was being held, told the AP.

 

"Still, our hearts are broken as two died, so we convey our sympathy to the bereaved family members," said Cha, 31, who has served as a spokesman for the hostages' relatives.

 

Abductions have become a key insurgent tactic in recent months in trying to destabilize the country, targeting both Afghan officials and foreigners helping with reconstruction. A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped a day before the South Koreans are still being held.

 

Violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest level since the Taliban ouster.

 

The suicide bomber approached the troops building a bridge in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and wounding six, NATO said. The alliance did not disclose the nationalities of the victims or the exact location of the blast. Most foreign troops in the east of the country are American.

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops, meanwhile, killed up to 21 suspected Taliban militants in three separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, and a roadside blast killed four Afghan soldiers in the east, officials said.