Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan said Tuesday they could consider a swap of sick female hostages for female Taliban prisoners, but only if eight prisoners are freed as they originally demanded. Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi told the Chosun Ilbo by phone on Tuesday night the militants continue to demand the release of eight Taliban prisoners in Pol-e-Charkhi jail, who include no women.
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Afghan youths ride a motorcycle in an old city area of Ghazni province, on Tuesday. South Korea's embassy said on Monday it had "high hopes" for face-to-face talks with Afghanistan's Taliban militia holding 21 of its citizens, one of whom has been able to speak to a negotiator./AFP
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In the afternoon, Ahmadi had told AFP and Yonhap News, "If the Afghan government or the Americans agree to free any Afghan women they've jailed in (military bases in) Kandahar or Bagram, we'll free the same number of female hostages." However, by Tuesday night he was saying the Islamic Supreme Council, the Taliban’s decision-making body, will decide on the fate of the female hostages only after the eight specified prisoners are freed as originally demanded.
Meanwhile, Ghazni Province Governor Merajuddin Pattan told AP Tuesday night Korean negotiators would agree with the Taliban to hold their first face-to-face negotiations in Ghazni Province, where the Korean hostages have been held since they were kidnapped in late July. Ahmadi denied the prediction.
The government has started evacuating Korean residents and NGO workers from Afghanistan as a government travel ban to the war-ravaged country went into effect on Tuesday.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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