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Afghan lawmakers, elders urge release of 22 hostages

Two lawmakers -- one of them a former Taliban member -- and several influential elders have joined negotiations with the hardline militia to step up pressure for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, an official said yesterday.

A South Korean presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, was scheduled to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday, an official from the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy.

The Taliban has demanded the release of insurgent prisoners in exchange for the South Koreans, who were captured on July 19. One of the original 23 captives was shot to death on Wednesday.

A former Taliban commander -- Abdul Salaam Rocketi, now a member of parliament -- has joined the talks, said Shirin Mangal, spokesman of the Ghazni provincial governor.

A second lawmaker and several respected leaders from around Qarabagh, the area in Ghazni Province where the hostages were taken, have also joined, he said.

"Today we are hopeful to get a good result because more and more elders have gathered from Ghazni," Qarabagh police chief Khwaja Mohammad said. "I hope the Taliban will listen to these negotiations now because they are neutral people -- elders from around Qarabagh District."

Afghan officials have said they are optimistic the hostages could be freed without further bloodshed, although the Taliban said the captives would be killed if their demands were not met.

Negotiators were struggling with conflicting demands made by the kidnappers, including the release of Taliban prisoners and ransom money.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the militants hoped the South Korean envoy would be able to "persuade the Afghan government" to swap imprisoned militants for the captives.

"If they don't release the Taliban prisoners, then the Taliban does not have any option other than to kill the Korean hostages," he said.

Local tribal elders and clerics from Qarabagh have been conducting negotiations by telephone with the captors for several days.

The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while traveling by bus on the Kabul to Kandahar highway.

Ahmadi said the hostages were being held in small groups in different locations and that some of them were in poor health.

In Seoul, the family of the South Korean pastor killed in Afghanistan yesterday asked for a delay in the repatriation of his body, saying they want it flown home only when the 22 other hostages are released from Taliban captivity.
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