Taliban, S. Korea reach agreement on captives

[maseman]

Source: MSNBC/AP

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban militants in Afghanistan agreed to release 19 South Korean church volunteers held captive since July 19, a spokesman for the insurgents and the South Korean government said Tuesday.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said South Korean and Taliban delegates at face-to-face talks Tuesday in the central town of Ghazni had "reached an agreement" to release the captives.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20473825/

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Gee South Korea seems to be the beacon of light as they negotiated peacefully with terrorists and in this case it worked out OK. If it were the US we would've bombed about a 1,000 Afghans and they would've killed the hostages.

[Zodiak]

1. I believe they did kill hostages

One that I know of...they said he was sick and had to be shot.

But still...a negotiation is much better than all-out assult, killing 50-100 civilians in the process.

[Eugene]

2. Two hostages were executed and S.Korea gave the Taliban something they wanted.

From the updated AP article at OP link...

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban agreed Tuesday to free
19 South Korean church volunteers held hostage since July
after the government in Seoul agreed to end all missionary
work and keep a promise to withdraw its troops from
Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Source: Reuters

Taliban to release all 19 South Korean hostages
Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:06AM EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents will release all
19 South Korean Christian volunteers they have held
hostage in Afghanistan since mid-July, South Korea's
presidential Blue House said on Tuesday.

The Taliban agreed to the release after South Korea
agreed to meet certain conditions such as halting its
citizens from conducting Christian missionary activity
in Afghanistan.

A presidential spokesman said it may take some time
before the actual release.

The Taliban Islamic movement seized 23 Korean
Christian volunteers on July 19 from a bus in Ghazni
province. It killed two male hostages after a series of
deadlines but freed two female captives as a gesture
of goodwill during a first round of talks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSISL21282020070828

[demoleft]

3. Taliban agree to release all South Korean hostages

Source: AFP

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's extremist Taliban said Tuesday they would free 19 kidnapped South Korean aid workers in the next few days, raising hopes of an end to the near six-week crisis.

The militia agreed a deal with South Korean diplomats after Seoul promised to remove its small military force from Afghanistan by the end of the year as planned and prevent Christian missionary groups from visiting the country.

"We're going to do our utmost to free them as soon as possible," Taliban negotiator Qari Mohammad Bashir told AFP, adding that the hostages would likely be released in the next three to four days.

The deal was confirmed by South Korea, which has faced intense pressure to resolve the hostage crisis ever since a group of 23 aid workers was kidnapped while travelling by bus from the capital Kabul to Kandahar on July 19.



Read more: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070828133012.jw631gmm.html

[MeDeMax]

4. meanwhile the crazies in our country

won't leave that muslim nation alone, how dare they not embrace what we believe in...

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26321

In return for the hostages' release, Cheon said, South Korea agreed to keep its promise to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year -- something it had announced last year -- and to ban "missionary work by Korean Christians in Afghanistan."

...

"But I am saddened about some of the conditions for the release. I had encouraged the Koreans not to negotiate with terrorists, and had hoped that they would be released out of sheer human kindness and/or military intervention. While the statement is made that missionary work will stop, God's work will not stop in Afghanistan."

[Bragi]

5. This looks promising...

The Southern Baptist Conference President should call on Christians everywhere to travel to Afghanistan to spread the message of Jesus. Christian and Muslim fundies can then duke it out mano a mano in the wilds of Afghanistan.

- B

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:sarcasm: