Taliban Allies Hit Seoul for Yielding to Terrorists
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Seoul is facing allies' criticism for having negotiated with ``terrorists'' to free Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan soon after the remaining hostages were all freed Thursday.
Allies were worried that Seoul's unprecedented direct negotiation with the militants would lead to more kidnappings of their people.
Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, said in a statement, ``We do not negotiate with terrorists, for any reason. Such negotiations only lead to further acts of terrorism.''
Though other countries such as the United States and Germany didn't openly criticize the negotiation, they have consistently maintained their position that there should be no negotiation with terrorists since the Taliban kidnapped the 23 Korean Christian volunteer workers on July 13.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear that her country would stand firm in its refusal to negotiate with the militia movement. ``In my opinion, the fate of the South Korean hostages will change nothing in the way we conduct our efforts to secure the release of a German engineer held hostage in Afghanistan,'' she told AFP in Tokyo.
The allies' concern was reinforced as the insurgents vowed to kidnap more foreigners after setting free the Korean hostages.
``We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan because we found this way to be successful,'' Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi told AP.
Afghanistan also condemned Seoul for its way of dealing with the Taliban in their territory.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said it was lamentable that it appeared as if Korea had heeded a Taliban ultimatum to secure the release of the hostages.
Spanta said in an interview with Germany's RBB radio that there was a risk that people could think Korea decided to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan at the insistence of the Taliban, handing the hard-line Islamic militia a propaganda victory.
``Regrettable… it can be interpreted in this way,'' he said.
Seoul accepted the Taliban's demand to pull out its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, which is one of five conditions on which the Taliban agreed to release the hostages. But the withdrawal of the troops by this year was planned before the kidnapping took place.
In terms of jurisdiction and diplomatic practice, authorities of a country where insurgents kidnap foreigners usually intervene in the negotiation for their release. Actually, in the early stage of negotiation, Afghan officials were involved in the negotiation with the Taliban but later the Korean officials joined the negotiation at the request of the Taliban.
Not only international community but also press criticized Seoul for the negotiation.
Jurgen Keil, director of Goethe Institute in Seoul, said many German news outlets reported the release of the Korean hostages but most of them were negative about Seoul's attitude toward the negotiation with terrorists just like other foreign media.
Another problem with Seoul's negotiation concerns the ransom, which was allegedly delivered to the Taliban by Seoul, according to some media such as Arab's Al Jazeera and Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun. Despite the denial by Seoul of a ransom, rumors have it that the release of the hostages was made thanks ransom payment, according to sources in Kabul.