AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan's Taliban begins face-to-face talks with a South Korean team over the 21 hostages the group is holding

Afghanistan's Taliban on Friday (August 10) began the first round of face-to-face talks with a South Korean team over the 21 hostages the group is holding, an Afghan official said. The talks were held in an area under the control of the Afghan government in Ghazni province, a provincial official said. The Taliban kidnapped 23 Korean Christian volunteers, 18 of them women, more than three weeks ago from a bus in Ghazni which lies to the southwest of Kabul. The group killed two male captives after deadlines passed without their demands being met, which prompted South Korea to seek face-to-face talks with the Taliban -- whose main demand is the release of Taliban prisoners held by Kabul.

ITN Source | August 11, 2007

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