The Taliban kidnappers of 23 Korean hostages on Sunday extended the deadline for the South Korean government to agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 24 hours to 1430 GMT on Monday. “The Taliban have extended the deadline for another 24 hours,” Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said on the phone from an unknown location. He said insurgents would start killing the hostages if South Korea did not agree to the demands.The South Korean government has said it will withdraw its troops at the end of this year as planned.
Provincial governor Mirajuddin Pattan said that an Afghan government team had gone to the area where the Koreans were kidnapped to ask tribal elders to mediate for their release, while Afghan and foreign troops stood by ready for an operation to free them. He said the government was keen for the elders to play the role of mediators between the government and the Taliban rebels.
But the Afghan Defence Ministry said that the Afghan army and coalition forces were also on stand-by in Ghazni province, south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. “They are awaiting orders to assault suspected locations,” the ministry said in a statement. “The operation will be launched if Defence Ministry authorities deem it necessary.”