One of twelve hostages released

Taliban militants released twelve more South Korean hostages Wednesday and the remaining seven hostages may also be released as early as the end of this week.  Among the 12 released were two men and ten women.

On Wednesday, the Taliban released 12 of 19 South Korean hostages as part of a deal with South Korea.  The Taliban originally demanded release of imprisoned insurgents in exchange for the South Korean hostages.  They later backed down on these demands.  Under the terms of this deal, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year.  Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the Muslim country, something it had already promised to do.

The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 South Koreans and killed two male hostages in late July.  They also released two women in early August was a gesture of good will.

Both Seoul and the Taliban have said that no money was exchanged in this deal.  Furthermore, the Afghan government was not a party to the negotiations.  South Korea’s government was under intense domestic pressure to bring the hostages home safely.

As the hostage crisis comes to an end, the father of one of the two hostages killed in the crisis accused the church that sent the Christian volunteers of being reckless.  Critics also said the government would suffer diplomatic damages for negotiating directly with the extremists.

For more information, please see:

–http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-08-29-korea_N.htm

–http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/30/news/hostages.php

–http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2007/08/30/afx4066960.html

–http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/30/taliban.hostages/

–http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aL5wx3d8ia1Q&refer=home