Taliban No Breakthrough in Hostage Crisis
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The ordeal of 22 Koreans being held hostages by Taliban militants in Afghanistan is likely to continue for the time being as the hostage negotiations have made little progress due to conflicts of interests among countries concerned.
Expectations were high in South Korea that a meeting between the country's presidential envoy and the Afghan president on Sunday would create a breakthrough in the hostage talks by persuading Kabul to accept Taliban's demand for the release of their comrades in prisons.
The envoy, Baek Jong-chun, promised a package of economic assistance for the war-torn Central Asian nation during the meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, sources said.
But the meeting has turned out to be not as fruitful as expected, government sources said. The U.S.-backed Afghan government is still reluctant to release Taliban prisoners, worrying about a possible backlash from Washington and other Western countries, they said.
In a statement issued after the meeting with Baek, Karzai pledged efforts to help secure the lives of the 22 Korean captives but fell short of freeing Taliban prisoners as Seoul wants.
Instead, Karzai denounced the militants, using provocative words. He described the kidnapping of the Koreans, especially women, ``shameful'' and ``un-Islamic.''
``Both the Seoul and Kabul governments are in dilemma over the hostage issue,'' a government official said, asking not to be named. ``The hostage-for-prisoner swap is the key. We're very concerned that the hostage crisis would continue to drag on and other captives would be killed after the swap deal fails.''
The Taliban have already shot dead the leader of the group last week. The extremists now want phased hostage-for-prisoner swap deals. But Seoul's negotiation team says it might take much time to bring the hostages home.
The United States, which toppled the Taliban regime in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has maintained a firm position that it will never engage in deals with terrorists.
The United States removed the Taliban from power because of its refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden, the purported mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Operation Enduring Freedom was also aimed at disrupting the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations.
In fact, Kabul was under criticism from the United States and other NATO members involved in the war against the Taliban, Islamic fundamentalists, last March when it released five Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian reporter and a ransom.
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joined the U.S.-initiated operation in Afghanistan in August 2003. About 39,000 ISAF troops are stationed in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military keeps about 8,000 forces backed by other allies including South Korea with 210 troops.
Reflecting the tough negotiations with the Taliban, the Afghan government on Sunday hinted that it may use force to free the hostages, to which Seoul are vehemently opposed.
``We believe in talks, and if dialogue fails then we will resort to other means,'' Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal was quoted as saying by Reuters. He clarified that ``other means'' include a rescue operation with the U.S. and other military units.
Afghan officials said Afghan army forces have surrounded the kidnappers. Japan's NHK reported Sunday that some 720 Special Forces from the coalition are ready to conduct a rescue operation.