Taliban Afghanistan, Pakistan Clash Over Captives

By Emal Pashtunyar

Special to Korea Times

KABUL _ Ghazni Governor Merajuddin Patan has accused neighboring Pakistan of meddling in the talks and want to get advantage of the situation by prolonging the crisis and humbling the Afghan government.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged in a war of words over the issue of cross-border infiltration and the growing militancy and extremism on their soils.

The two countries share a 2,640 kilometers long border which is also disputed and often remain engaged in diplomatic deadlocks.

While Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of interfering in its internal affairs and not stopping militants from entering into Afghanistan from the border areas of Pakistan, the latter says that it has deployed 80,000 troops to secure the border and stop infiltration of militants.

Besides the Afghan officials, the Taliban militants Friday night said that the negotiations were ended without conclusion and the final deadline for that day was over.

Taliban spokesman Yousaf Ahmadi when contacted for comments over the telephone said that the deadline had passed and no new one was issued.

Although he did not mention the further line of action of the kidnappers, his tone was not harsh as far as the Korean side and the hostages were concerned.

Rather, Ahmadi blamed the Afghan government side for using delaying tactics in pushing the dialogue in the direction of their interests.

He said the Afghan government did not want the release of the Taliban prisoners and they were delaying the talks by using one pretext or another.

If the stalemate continued, the Taliban would start killing the hostages and the responsibility would lie with the government, said the spokesman. However, he did not issue any new deadline.

As the hostages passed their 11th night in captivity under the Taliban, there is only confusion and no solution is in sight. Earlier, the local and foreign media, which used to catch every sentence from the Taliban or the Afghan officials, were now losing interest in the issue due to the confusing situation and the continous backtracking of Afghan officials and Taliban militants on their previous statements.

If persisted in for a few more days, the crisis will further increase the trouble for South Koreans at home as well as for those who are in the captivity of the militants and do not know what will happen to them.

Earlier, the Taliban spokesman had also informed The Korea Times about the sickness of some more hostages and the non-availability of proper health facilities provided by the Taliban.

The presidential envoy, who has arrived in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and the Afghan president himself should make a quick decision to help secure the lives of the 22 kidnapped Koreans.

The continuous deadlock in negotiations between the kidnappers and the Afghan government and the Korean delegation is adding more confusion to the issue with each passing day as neither the Afghan or Korean officials nor the Taliban militants are coming out with a clear-cut stance.

Wahidullah Mujaddidi, who is part of the government team to hold negotiations with the Taliban militants, told The Korea Times Friday night that progress was being made and they were nearing an agreement. However, nothing came of this despite waiting by hard-nosed journalists to report a possible breakthrough.

On Friday, the militants first announced the morning (10:00AM) deadline and then extended it to 5:00PM. Ghazni Governor Merajuddin Patan told this correspondent that the deadline was extended because the negotiations were leading in the right direction.

At the expiry of the first deadline and announcement of the second on that day, the governor showed immense optimism about some positive results by the evening.

However, when contacted over the telephone in the evening, the Afghan governor did not explain.