Two Taliban negotiators said on Saturday they were ”optimistic” about talks to release their 21 South Korean hostages but insisted that some jailed rebels must be freed first.
The Afghan government has consistently rejected the demand since the group of Christian aid workers was captured in the southern province of Ghazni more than three weeks ago.
Taliban negotiators resumed face-to-face talks with a South Korean delegation in the small town of Ghazni early on Saturday after the two sides met late into the night on Friday, apparently without breakthrough.
”We are optimistic about the result of our talks,” one of the Taliban, Qari Bashir, told reporters outside the offices of the Afghan Red Crescent Society where the negotiations are being held with government security.
But he reiterated: ”The hostages will be freed if the government accepts our demands to free some of prisoners.”
Talks with the Afghan government appear deadlocked and direct negotiations between the rebels and the South Korean team are seen as one of the last hopes for the hostages.
The Taliban, waging a vicious and spreading insurgency, has already shot dead two and threatened to murder more.
But Seoul, which has pleaded with Kabul and Washington to do what it can, is powerless to guarantee a prisoner exchange. A government negotiator said last week South Korea could only offer a ransom.
The rebel negotiating team is said to be in the town, which is about 140km south of Kabul, under a government guarantee that they will not be arrested.
Bashir said his group had handed over a list of eight men it wanted released. ”Once the government has accepted this, we’ll hand over a list of more of our prisoners,” he said.
”We assure that if our men are freed, we’ll release the South Korean hostages.”
Asked about the condition of the captives, most of whom are reportedly ill, the other Taliban negotiator, Mullah Nasrullah, said: ”They’re good.”
Medicines were delivered to them last week.
The South Korean embassy in Kabul will not comment on the talks. In Seoul, a presidential spokesperson said: ”For the safety of the hostages, no details of the talks can be released for now.”
Afghan officials are also reluctant to comment.
The 23 South Korean missionaries, 16 of them women, were abducted in Ghazni province while travelling on a key highway which many foreigners consider a no-go area because of a general decline in security. — AFP
