By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
As 21 Koreans passed the 16th day of captivity in Afghanistan without any breakthrough, neighboring country Pakistan emerges as a new important player in the negotiation for the hostages.
The Pakistani government is officially at war with the Taliban but many experts suspect that Pakistan internally maintains secret contact with the militants.
Most importantly, the religion of Pakistan is Islam and many Muslim groups with the Taliban militants, dubbed pashtuns, live in Pakistan.
Against this backdrop, President Roh Moo-hyun's special envoy Baek Jong-chun visited Pakistan to solicit its support during a meeting with senior Pakistani officials and Islamic religion leader.
Song Min-soon, minister of foreign affairs and trade, also met Thursday Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Pakistani minister of state for foreign affairs in Manila to discuss Pakistan's role in the negotiation for the hostages.
``Seoul needs to solicit support from 2,800 pashtuns, a group of Muslims, who dominate the Taliban, in Pakistan,'' Jang Byung-ok, Middle East professor of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies said in an interview with CBS in Seoul.
Jang said that if the leaders of pashtuns make a religious order, the Taliban militants also have to obey it, according to their religion.
The professor urged Christians to stay calm and urged Muslims to voice out their support for the release of the hostages.
However, Bakhtyar refuted reported influence of Pakistan on the Taliban, saying that his government has no channel for the negotiation with the Taliban.
The minister said that Pakistan is at war with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Pakistani territory, and therefore, even though Pakistan likes to help Korea, it is hard.
Seoul officials also said that a key nation for this crisis is Afghanistan rather than Pakistan because the Afghan government has jurisdiction to free the Taliban prisoners. The Taliban has been repeatedly demanding the release of its prisoners in return for the release of the hostages.