Emal Pashtunyar Special to The Korea Times KABUL _ The second round of face-to-face talks between Taliban militants and Korean officials on the fate of the 19 Korean hostages being held in Afghanistan ended Thursday without any breakthrough. The negotiations were resumed after a two-day hiatus with both sides upbeat about the outcome. However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi telephoned media offices late Thursday to say that the talks had been postponed till a new date that will be set by the Taliban leadership. Although the spokesman did not issue any threats or a deadline for killing the Koreans _ as they usually do to force the Afghan government and the Korean side to accept their demands _ he seemed to be frustrated with the lack of progress in the dialogue. Ahmadi said the Taliban had freed two hostages as a gesture of goodwill with the hope that the Afghan government would reciprocate and release prisoners. However, neither the Korean nor the Afghan side had reciprocated 'gesture of goodwill', he said. Approached for comments, one of the Taliban negotiators, Mullah Bashir, confided to The Korea Times that the Korean officials were not taking any steps to put pressure on the Afghan government for the release of Taliban prisoners. Mullah Bashir and Mullah Nasrullah are the Taliban representatives holding talks with the Korean delegation. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and an Afghan elder from Ghazni province Haji Muhammad Zahir are facilitating the dialogue. Asked why the talks were again suspended when both sides were upbeat about the outcome, Bashir said: ``We're sincere and the release of two hostages is a proof of our sincerity.'' However, he added that the Korean officials were not doing enough to ensure the release of Taliban prisoners from Afghan jails. ``We are not going to step back from our demand regarding the release of the prisoners,'' said the negotiator with a threatening voice; however, he did not issue any threats regarding the hostages. He was more cautious when asked what they will do with the hostages if the Afghan government does not accept their demand regarding the release of Taliban prisoners. ``The decision is in the hands of our leaders. They'll decide and we will obey whatever they order,'' Bashir said. The majority of the Taliban's prominent leaders, including the movement's chief Mullah Muhammad Omar are fugitives and never interact with media for fear of being tracked by Afghan, American or Pakistani security agencies. To the question as to when they will return to the negotiation table, he said they will inform their leadership of the result of the talks and await instructions from them. ``We will do whatever is ordered by our leaders.'' He would not say how Omar would take the final decision regarding a possible deal with the Korea delegation. The mediator Haji Muhammad Zahir said that the Taliban were insisting on the release of prisoners, adding that this was why the talks went nowhere. However, the tribal elder was optimistic about a resumption and the outcome of negotiations.