Afghan army prepares for new mission

The Afghan army today dropped leaflets warning of impending military action in the region where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Koreans, though the army said the upcoming operation is not connected to the hostages.

The local governor, meanwhile, said South Korea’s ambassador sought and was given permission from the Taliban militants for a face-to-face meeting with the captors.

Another Taliban deadline passed at noon today with no word that any of the captives had been killed. A purported spokesman for the militants said they hoped the Afghan government would agree to release insurgent prisoners in exchange for the Koreans. Two Koreans were killed shortly after earlier deadlines.

In Ghazni province, where 23 Koreans were kidnapped on July 19 while driving from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets telling citizens that they needed to move to government-controlled areas in order to avoid upcoming military action.

Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi said the mission, the start of which could be days or weeks away, had been long-planned and had no connection to the Korean kidnapping case – but a show of military force in the region could place the kidnappers under further pressure.

Gov Marajudin Pathan said the Taliban agreed to a face-to-face meeting with Korea’s ambassador to Afghanistan, and officials were looking for a suitable location to hold it, though he didn’t know when it would happen. He also said another high official had arrived from Korea to take part in talks, though he didn’t know the official’s name or position.

Separately, Taliban fighters in Ghazni province attacked the home of government employees, killing three of them, Pathan said. Subsequent fighting also left seven Taliban dead about 40 miles south of Ghazni city.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported militant spokesman, told The Associated Press after the noon deadline passed that the remaining 21 hostages were still alive. The militants still wanted officials to meet their key demand – to release Taliban prisoners in exchange for the lives of the Koreans. Several other deadlines have passed with no killings.

Ahmadi said two female hostages were very sick and could die from illness, while a doctor heading a private clinic said Afghan doctors would try to visit the hostages on Friday and take them medicine.

Dr Mohammad Hashim Wahwaj, though, said he didn’t have permission from the militants and didn’t know if his attempt would be successful.

Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s elusive leader whose whereabouts are unknown, appointed three members of the Taliban’s high council to oversee the hostage situation, said Ahmadi.

The three have the power to order the killings of the Koreans at any time, he said.

The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped July 19 while travelling by bus on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. They are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, called for the immediate release of all remaining captives.

The group said the Taliban have kidnapped at least 41 Afghan civilians so far this year and killed at least 23 of them. The rest remain missing.

“The taking of hostages is a war crime,” Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

In South Korea, relatives of the hostages pleaded with U.S. Embassy officials during an hour-long visit for help in negotiating their loved ones’ release. The families were told their message would be passed on to Washington.

“We will hold on to any small hope to save them,” Ryu Haeng-sik, 36, whose wife Kim Yoon-yong, 35, is one of the hostages, told the AP outside the embassy in Seoul, his eyes red from weeping and fatigue.

“We cannot say we’re relieved, but there is no other way but to believe their words, that they’re going to do their best,” he said.

Both the families and the South Korean government have asked that previous international practice in dealing with abductions be set aside in the interest of human life – effectively asking the United States to make an exception to its policy of refusing to make concessions to terrorist demands.

But the US and other countries strongly criticised Afghanistan earlier this year when it released five Taliban prisoners to win the freedom of an Italian journalist held hostage.

The South Korean president’s office said today that Washington was involved in efforts to win the hostages’ release, but at a basic level.

“We understand their dilemma and limits,” presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said.

“There are some views that the United States holds (the keys to) everything. But that’s a lot different from the fact,” he said.

The South Koreans were members of the same church and had volunteered to go to Afghanistan’s dangerous south against the government’s advice.

Meanwhile, in Ghazni’s Dih Yak district, police recovered the bodies of four Afghan men, one of whom was a local judge, who had disappeared a week ago while travelling from neighbouring Paktia province, said Azizullah, a police official in Ghazni who goes by one name.

The police found the judge’s ID card on his body. All four victims had bullet wounds, Azizullah said.