update to AFP article
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Taliban Saturday freed two women among 21 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan as a “gesture of goodwill,” a spokesman for the militia told AFP.
“Our leadership council decided to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill two women hostages who are sick,” said spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.
A second spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, confirmed the two women had been released.
No officials, from either the South Korean embassy in Kabul or the Afghan government, were able to confirm that any hostages had been freed.
If the women had not yet arrived at an agreed handover point, “transportation difficulty” would be the reason, Ahmadi said.
“But what I can tell you is the leadership council has said they must be freed, so they’re freed,” he said.
The decision came hours after Taliban representatives concluded the first face-to-face talks with a South Korean delegation in the town of Ghazni, 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kabul.
Mujahed said release would “show that we’re honest in our talks and expect the government to be honest and free our prisoners,” he said.
The police chief of Ghazni, Alishah Ahamdzai, told AFP earlier there had been an agreement to free “some” of the hostages, but this could not be immediately confirmed with other officials.
Taliban representatives who met the South Korean team had earlier reiterated their demand that some Taliban must be freed from prison in exchange for the lives of all the hostages, a condition the government has rejected.
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