South Korean officials and the Taliban would resume face-to-face
talks on 19 South Korean hostages at 10:00 AM (05:30 GMT) on Today
in Ghazni province of central Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman
Yousuf Ahmadi said yesterday.
Ahmadi told Xinhua from an undisclosed place that the talks
would be held at the local office of International Committee of the
Red Cross in Ghazni city, the provincial capital, as before, and
the two Taliban delegates who engaged in the former direct
negotiations would attend the upcoming talks.
He declined to say whether the Taliban still sticks to the
exchange of Taliban prisoners for the hostages, which is flatly
rejected by Afghan authorities.
But he reiterated the Taliban wants a peaceful solution to the
hostage crisis through negotiations.
Neither Afghan nor South Korean officials have confirmed
Ahmadi's saying.
A total of 23 South Koreans were kidnapped by Taliban militants
on a road in Ghazni province on July 19.
Taliban rebels shot dead two male hostages on July 25 and July
30 separately to press Afghan and South Korean authorities to meet
their demands.
Two female hostages were released on Aug. 13 as the Taliban
claimed it wanted to show "a good gesture" toward South Korean
authorities.
Taliban militants have carried out kidnappings in Afghanistan
over the past two years frequently, and some hostages were
killed.??
(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2007)
