Korea Times: “Negotiation Focused On Ransom”
Korean officials paid for the prior release of two female captives.
Taliban Demand $10 Million for Freeing Remaining Hostages, Korea Offering Less
By Emal Pashtunyar
Special to Korea Times
KABUL _ Taliban militants are demanding just over $0.5 million for the release of each of the remaining hostages, The Korea Times has reliably learnt from a source, Tuesday.
With 19 hostages still being held by Taliban _ two (men) were killed and two (women) freed _ the total ransom being demanded is around $10 million.
However, the source said, a Korean delegation is offering only US $0.5 million for the safe release of all the remaining captives, and current negotiations are focused only on that issue.
Neither the Taliban, nor the Korean side are admitting to the ransom talks but the source privy to the meetings between them informed this reporter that the focal point of the current dialogue was the ransom amount.
Asked if the negotiations were continuing or whether there were problems, he said they were still underway and the two sides were trying hard to strike a deal as soon as possible.
Although, the demand from the militants and the offer from Korean side are poles apart at the moment, the two sides are striving to come closer and agree on a reasonable sum.
The Taliban demand of $0.5 million per hostage was unreasonable, said the source shuttling between the two sides, adding that they might have made such a demand to push the Koreans to pay them at least $2-3 million for the remaining hostages.
He said he was “certain” Korean officials paid for the prior release of two female captives.
“They have been freed for ransom,” said the source, but did not offer the exact amount.
The issue of prisoners’ swap has now been removed from the negotiation table, he said. “It is no longer under consideration.”
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who sent a short message to this reporter soon after the release of the two women on Monday, reiterated the demand for the release of their men.
“Now that we’ve freed the two hostages as a gesture of goodwill, the Afghan government too, should come forward and release our prisoners to secure the lives of the remaining captives,” said the message.
However, the source said inside negotiations were focused on payment of a ransom, and he expected a peaceful settlement of the issue in a few days.
To questions about the health of the hostages, the source said they were all fine. “They are well-fed, well-kept and all facilities are available to them,” he maintained.
Earlier, the two Taliban negotiators, Mullah Bashir and Mullah Nasrullah, who are engaged in talks with the Korean delegation at the office of the Red Crescent Society, told the media that they hoped for a peaceful end to the hostage crisis.
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More on Irahabi Taliban apostacy. The fuckers don’t even follow their own religious laws. To wit:
. Kidnapping is an assault on another, whether a Muslim or non-Muslim. It is an unjust act that God forbids and prohibits: “Allah commands justice, the doing of good and giving to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition” (Koran, 16:90). God stressed that the mere differences in religion, even if in the context of a conflict, do not justify assaulting another.
2. Kidnapping is considered an act of war. [In any case, it is prohibited to kill a prisoner of war], he is absolutely destined to be released: “… afterward either grace or ransom….” (Koran, 47:4).
3. It is prohibited, in the case of actual war, to kidnap innocent people or civilians, who are [technically speaking] of the enemy. No act of war could be aimed at them. The civilians, from an Islamic perspective, are noncombatant women, children, and the elderly who have nothing to do with war, and monks and those who live in monasteries.
4. If kidnapping takes place during actual fighting, the kidnapped become prisoners of war, and should be treated according to the teachings of Islamic sharia regarding captives, which we summarize as follows: (a) Prisoners of wars should be turned over to the authorities to decide what to do with them. The person who caught the prisoner of war has no right or authority over him. (b) It is a religious obligation to be kind to the prisoners of war, to treat them well, to be generous to them, to provide them with food and clothing, and not to torture them: “And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive” (Koran, 76:8). (c) The prisoners of war should be ultimately released.
5. It is prohibited to hold civilians from among the enemy as hostages and threaten to kill them because of an action that is performed, or not, by others, while they are not responsible for it, and they cannot stop it: (a) One of the most important rules of justice among people is that no one should be responsible for the actions of others, and no one should be held accountable for crimes done by others. This law of sharia was confirmed by the Koran in many verses: “No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another” (Koran, 17:15).
August 14th, 2007 at 7:16 amThe Afghan government should perhaps consider bombing the hostages to deprive the Taliban of millions of dollars of financial aid from Korea.
August 14th, 2007 at 7:21 amStandby for the new cottage industry in Afghanistan—Kidnapping.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:20 amThose people knew they were entering a dangerous situation, and they should be free to do so if they want. The ransom, however, should be delivered in the form of bullets or else there will be no end to this behavior. Paying off the Taliban is just stupid and puts everyone in more danger.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:33 amSometime back in the 1970s, while the US was engulfed by nutjobs hijacking our planes to Havana, a different bunch of nutjobs thought it would be a good idea to hijack a flight out of Tokyo’s (then) largest airport, Narita International. The Japanese security services swung into action. On explicit orders from the highest reaches of japanese national government, a SWAT team was dispatched to the tarmac. Their orders were very simple:
Kill every hijacker on the aircraft, suffering as few civilian casualties as possible, but no hijacker was to be taken alive.
That was the last time anybody ever tried to hijack a Japanese flight.
So what’s the lesson here? Negotiation is appeasement, and appeasement leads to more kidnappings. On the other hand, and here is where the Japanese showed both their mettle and intelligence, if whenever hostages are taken the immediate and non-negotiable response is to destroy the kidnappers, you cease to put a price on the heads of your citizens.
It is governments and negotiators who put a price on the heads of the innocent, not the hostage-takers! When there is no room for negotiation and no toleration of kidnappings, then the impetus for kidnappings disappears and becomes a moot point.
The Koreans will have only themselves to thank when the next group of witless missionaries trod into hostile Muslim territory to “spread the good word” and end up getting sawed in half by a pack of Godless, subhuman butchers.
Amazing how slow human beings are to pick up on the simplest of life’s lessons.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:12 amIf more people die as a result of the South Korean government’s incompetency (you know, for financing a known terrorist organization like the Taliban), can we bomb them too?
Because I’ve had it with stupid dipshits. You DO NOT negotiate with murderous insects.
And liberals claim America creates terrorists through its policies? Please. I don’t want to fucking hear it.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:15 amWarBicycle,
It’s not a new industry for Muslims. That’s why Jefferson made the decision to pave their streets with cannon balls instead of gold way back when. At the time the US had maybe 13 million citizens, a million and a half of which were kidnapped and enslaved if not ransomed, some by the Calif in Tripoli. When he found out their religion considers Infedels no better that animals, nonhuman, to do with as they please without fear of legal or spiritual reprisal, the cannon ball decision was made…and has remained the only way to deal with them since. If Jefferson had not acted on the situation, there was a threat of Impeachment from his Congress to help him decide. Wierd, now there was a threat of Impeachment for doing the same thing the Founding Fathers deemed a necessary duty.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:42 amThe Korean people should really think long and hard about the precedents they are setting with their choices to pay these animals.
Translation.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:43 pm한국 사람은 이 동물을 지불하기 위하여 그들의 선택에 놓고 있는 전례에 관하여 진짜로 길고와 단단한 생각해야 한다.
More Dane-geld! Hurry!
August 16th, 2007 at 2:44 am