South Korean officials scrambled yesterday to free 21 aid workers held by the Taliban, who said they had been told their key demand for the release of jailed fighters would be met.
With two other aid workers already shot dead and the rest under threat of death, Afghan provincial officials and the hardline Islamic militia said there were plans for a face-to-face meeting between the Taliban and a South Korean delegation.
Although not confirmed by the South Korean government, Seoul -- with the backing of the hostages' relatives -- has repeatedly stated its stiff opposition to any attempt to free them by military action.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Yousuf Ahmadi, said on Thursday his group was ready to meet South Korean Ambassador Kang Sung-zu and had selected some of its representatives for talks.
A venue had still not been decided, he said yesterday, after police said any meeting would be afforded high security.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited "informed sources" saying that with most of the hostages ill, including two women reportedly in serious condition, the talks were likely to be held later yesterday.
The abduction highlights growing insecurity in Afghanistan, one of the key battlegrounds in the US-led "war on terror," nearly six years after the US led the invasion that toppled the Taliban government.
A Taliban spokesman said late on Thursday that it had been "assured" by South Korean officials that imprisoned fighters would be released in exchange for the Christian aid workers, who are members of a church in suburban Seoul.
This has been the key demand of the extremists, who kidnapped the group, composed mainly of women, on July 19 as they traveled in the country's insurgency-hit south.
"The Korean delegation has assured us they have spoken to the Americans and the Korean hostages will be freed in exchange with Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi said.
That could not be confirmed by the Afghan government, which has refused to release Taliban fighters for fear of encouraging kidnapping, and after severe criticism from the US over a similar deal in March.
Seoul has been pressing the US, a close ally, and Pakistan for help.
Eight senior South Korean legislators flew on Thursday to Washington to lobby for support, while South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon met US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Manila.
Officials in Kabul have denied reports of a possible military operation to release the hostages, but a top US diplomat later spoke of the "potential" for action.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher told reporters that "potential military pressures" against the Taliban were among the "many tools" available.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS