By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
As the negotiations to secure the lives of 21 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan in return for Taliban prisoners head nowhere, the Seoul government is now struggling to persuade the militant group to accept a hostage-for-money swap, an informed government source said Tuesday.
The source, who asked not to be identified, admitted that South Korea has failed to convince the Afghan government to free Taliban rebels from prisons, which the extremists said is the only demand for the release of the Korean captives they will recognize.
``The problem is that we don't have any negotiation card of our own for the hostage issue,'' said the source, referring to the U.S.-backed Karzai administration's ``limited power.''
``What we only expect right now is that the Taliban will understand the fact that South Korea doesn't have any leverage on the release of their comrades in prisons and will amend their demand to money,'' he said.
The source said the Korean government has not given a ransom or tried to offer money to the Islamic radicals, denying earlier reports that Seoul had prepared to give a ransom to the Taliban for the first release of eight hostages.
The situation over the hostage crisis has been worsening, despite Seoul's all-out efforts to bring the kidnapped home safely.
The meeting between Korea's presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday, on which much hope was placed, failed to create a breakthrough to the crisis, according to sources.
A day after the Baek-Karzai meeting, the hard-line militia shot the second Korean hostage, following the killing of a leader of the Korean Christian group last week. The Taliban blamed Kabul for not coming through on promises to release their comrades.
Kabul is negative about freeing Taliban prisoners, concerned over a possible backlash from the United States, which has been waging war against Taliban militants.
The United States, which toppled the Taliban regime in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, maintains a firm position that there should be no dealing with terrorists.
``It's absolutely, unfortunately, part of the hallmark of the Taliban that they will engage in these kinds of activities and will engage in all kinds of other vicious attacks, both on foreigners in that country trying to help the citizens there, as well as on Afghanis themselves,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey has said.
The spokesman, however, fell short of mentioning the release of Taliban rebels in prisons in exchange for the Korean captives.
``This is obviously a difficult time for the families of the hostages and for the government of South Korea, and the government of Afghanistan as well,'' he said.
The source made it clear that South Korea opposes any military option to rescue the hostages, calling it ``the last resort'' in a worst scenario.
But some government officials do not rule out the use of force by U.S.-led coalition forces to free the hostages believed to be held in small groups in different locations, if the situation gets worse with additional killings of Koreans.
Park Chang-kwon, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), predicted that the United States would not likely conduct rescue operations, risking hostages' lives.
``If any operations were carried out, they will not be successful because of the lack of intelligence on the whereabouts of hostages, particularly given that Taliban insurgents lurk in rugged mountainous areas or caves,'' Park told The Korea Times.
The large number of hostages and their separated custody by the Taliban are also setbacks to rescue operations, he said.
A purported Taliban spokesman said they are holding the hostages by splitting them into several groups of two or three in different locations.
Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces have cordoned off suspected Taliban hideouts in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni, where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped on July 19, to secure the release of the hostages, but there has not been any engagement.
On Sunday, Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal hinted that it may use force to free the hostages. Japan's NHK also reported Sunday that some 720 Special Forces from the coalition are ready to get orders.
The hostages, mostly women, were abducted while riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway after performing medical and humanitarian works for locals.
They are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in the war-torn nation since 2001.