By Jung Sung-ki & Emal Pashtunyar in Kabul
Staff Reporter
KABUL _ Taliban and Korean negotiators in Afghanistan have reached an agreement on the release of the remaining 19 Korean hostages following a fourth round of face-to-face talks, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday.
The hostages have been held in captivity for 41 days since the 23 Christian volunteers were kidnapped by Taliban militants, July 19, while traveling on a bus from Kandahar to Kabul. The militants later killed two male hostages, before releasing two female captives.
The two sides agreed to a three-point deal, which included the withdrawal of 210 non-combatant Korean troops from the Central Asian nation by the end of the year, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said.
The other terms of the agreement are a ban on Korean Christian missionaries traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the departure of all Korean non-governmental organizations from Afghanistan, Cheon said.
An Afghan source privy to the negotiations told The Korea Times that in addition the militants had agreed to grant safe passage to the Korean troops during their withdrawal, and had dropped their demand for the release of Taliban prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
The source said on condition of anonymity that the captives are likely to be released in the coming couple of days in small groups of three to four.
Another informed source said the hostages had already been released, but this was not being disclosed for security reasons. As they had been kept in remote locations, it could take more than 24 hours for them to reach Ghazni, he said.
``The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostages' release,'' Cheon said in a press conference. ``The government will take all necessary measures for the safe return of all the hostages.''
Cheon said many details must still be worked out and the actual timing of the release will be further discussed with the Taliban. He said there was no agreement to pay the captors, nor was there any mention of releasing Taliban prisoners, a major demand of the kidnappers.
A Taliban spokesman also said that no ransom was paid by Korea in return for their agreement to free the hostages. According to a negotiator, Korean officials had told him that they could not force the Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners.
Taliban negotiator Mullah Bashir, who spoke to this correspondent through an intermediary, said that they would release the hostages in the next two days.
The main character behind the drawn out negotiations was a tribal elder from Ghazni Province, Haji Muhammad Zahir, who said over the telephone that an agreement had been reached between the two sides.
About 210 South Korean troops of the Dasan Engineering Unit and Dongui Medical Unit are stationed in the war-ravaged nation on humanitarian and rehabilitation operations as part of an international coalition of forces led by the United States and NATO. Seoul first deployed troops to Afghanistan in 2002 at the request of Washington.
About 44,000 coalition forces from 44 nations are participating in military operations in Afghanistan aimed at removing Taliban remnants. The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The United States initiated the Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as the Taliban had refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, a mastermind of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. soil. The United States also aimed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations.