By Gul Khan, Yoon Won-sup
Special to The Korea Times, Staff Reporter
The release of 23 Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban militia Thursday in Afghanistan entered a critical stage as the insurgents issued an ultimatum Sunday to the Afghan government for talks over their release.
The ultimatum _ 7 p.m. local time Sunday, 11:30 p.m. Sunday in Korea Standard Time _ was issued after the militants announced the killing of five Afghan nationals abducted with two German engineers who are claimed to have been executed by the Taliban. Taliban is comprised of students from the Islamic Knowledge Movement who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, before the invasion of U.S. troops.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi demanded that the Afghan government release Taliban prisoners if it is interested in the safety of the Korean abductees. They requested to exchange an equal number of Taliban prisoners for Korean hostages.
He didn't touch upon the subject of Korean troops' pullout during his talks with the media.
Earlier, some media outlets quoting the spokesman reported they had issued Saturday's deadline on the Korean hostages.
However, Ahmadi said his men had killed the Germans and Afghans, as the respective government failed to come forward for negotiations, and they will kill the Koreans if their demands were not accepted by the Afghan government.
Meanwhile, a Korean government task force led by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Jung-pyo arrived in Afghanistan Sunday afternoon to prepare for negotiations over the release and safe return of the Korean hostages.
The Korean government and the Taliban militia began negotiations on release, Saturday night, according to Al Jazeer.
But the government, declining details about the negotiation for security reasons, said it could not yet officially confirm the Taliban's demand for a prisoner-hostage exchange.
The Korean government was clear in its decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan as scheduled by the end of this year, which the Taliban welcomed. However, the release of the Taliban prisoners is in the jurisdiction of the Afghan government. It is not clear whether Afghanistan would agree to such a deal.
Afghan President Hamid Karai authorized the release of five Taliban prisoners in exchange for a kidnapped Italian reporter in March. But he called the trade a one-time deal in order not to encourage more kidnappings.
President Roh Moo-hyun asked his Afghan counterpart on Saturday to cooperate with Seoul to release the Korean hostages, during a 10-minute telephone conversation.
The pullout process has already begun since the paperwork is under way, according to Rep. Kim Sung-gon of the pro-government Uri Party, chairman of the National Defense Committee.
``It takes about five to six months to pull out troops stationed overseas and I was briefed from the government that the paperwork is under way,'' Kim said. ``This situation does not differ from the Taliban's demand.''
The Korean troops of Dasan Engineering Unit and Dongui Medical Unit largely work on humanitarian projects such as medical assistance and reconstruction in the U.S.-led coalition.
The Korean hostages _ 18 women and five men, mostly medical doctors and nurses _ went to Afghanistan to offer medical services. Most of them are members of the Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.