By Emal Pashtunyar
Special to The Korea Times
KABUL _ Both Taliban kidnappers and the Afghan officials have expressed the confidence that the talks, that closed-door talks that concluded Saturday evening, will bear positive results.
Stopping short of openly telling about some agreement, Ghazni Governor Merajuddin Patan told The Korea Times that they were near a deal. He said he was optimistic about the results of the talks but saying anything at this juncture would be premature.
A Taliban commander, who wished not to be named, said both sides have listened to each others and they were near an agreement. The commander would not say if they were going to release two sick hostages.
Earlier, the two Taliban negotiators said the hostages would be set free in the coming 48 hours. In the meantime, one of the negotiator, Mullah Bashir, said they were still demanding the release of their prisoners.
The two Taliban negotiators, who arrived in Ghazni City Friday evening and entered into a face-to-face dialogue with the Korean delegation, addressed a news conference Saturday morning.
"We are not going to accept anything less than the setting free of our prisoners in exchange for the safe release of the Korean hostages," said one of the two negotiators, who arrived in the city after getting assurances from the Afghan government that they would not be arrested.
However, his other colleague Mullah Nasrullah said the Koreans would be released in the coming 48 hours and would fly to their country safely.
He was more optimistic than Mullah Bashir. He said the first round of talks came to an end last night. The two sides (Korean delegation and Taliban) listen to each other and discussed ways and means to find a solution to the issue.
Clad in a shawl and wearing the traditional Shalwar-Qameez (tradition Afghan clothes), the be-spectacle Nasrullah said he hoped they will reach a final settlement with the Korean side in a day or two.