Taliban were expected to release two sick women among 21 Koreans they are holding hostage in Afghanistan by Monday morning. Their Qarabagh District commander Abdullah Jan, who led the abduction late last month, told a local source of the Chosun Ilbo by phone the militants would free the two hostages as a gesture of goodwill and had told the Korean negotiating team of the decision. Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, told wire agencies over the phone Sunday morning that the Taliban leadership council decided ¡°to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill¡± the two women.
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Taliban negotiator Qari Bashir (L) speaks to the media as fellow negotiator Mawlavi Nasrullah looks on in Ghazni, southwest of Kabul on Saturday. Talks between Afghanistan's Taliban and Korean diplomats over 21 Korean hostages were going well on Saturday and the Taliban expect to free their captives, the two Taliban negotiators said./ REUTERS
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But against expectations there were no negotiations between the Taliban and the Korean negotiating team on Sunday. Ahmadi told the Afghan Islamic Press by phone on Sunday afternoon that negotiations would resume on Monday. He said the two captives who are expected to be freed are still under the supervision of the Taliban. ¡°The plan to release two female hostages first is still valid, but the timing has not been fixed yet,¡± he said. A Korean official said the government is ¡°in close contact¡± with the kidnappers, although face-to-face talks were not held on Sunday. A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said ¡°good news¡± was coming in from Afghanistan, ¡°although it¡¯s too early to jump to a conclusion and be relieved.¡± In a meeting on the upcoming second inter-Korean summit, he said it was good to discuss the inter-Korean summit while progress is being made in the hostage crisis.
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A large banner displaying a message written in Korean, Arabic, center, and English hangs on a building in downtown Seoul, South Korea on Sunday. /AP
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The negotiations were presumably called off because the two hostages had not been released. There was confusion over the timing of their release after conflicting statements from the kidnappers. On Saturday, Ahmadi said the Taliban already handed the two women to the Afghan Red Crescent. But he later reversed the statement, saying the Taliban leadership council changed its mind and the hostages were taken back to a safe place.
Meanwhile, at the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Peace Jirga held in Kabul, a council of tribal leaders from the two countries, some of 600 Islamic representatives urged the Taliban to release the Korean hostages, the Afghan Islamic Press reported. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf attended the closing ceremony of the gathering.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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