(AKI) - The Taliban has proposed exchanging female South Korean hostages for an equal number of detained female Taliban prisoners. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi made the fresh offer of an exchange in a telephone interview with Korean news agency Yonhap, even though he did not know how many female members of the Taliban were detained. "We do not know the exact number of Taliban women imprisoned by the Afghan government, but if (Kabul) lets them go, we will release the same number of female hostages," Ahmadi said. He said the jailed women were supporters, convicted for providing food or shelter to Taliban fighters. "The Taliban do not have any female ministers or female fighters," he added.
The proposal came as Afghan president Harmid Karzai and US president George Bush adamantly refused to meet the rebels' demands, amid reports that two of the South Koreans were seriously ill. The South Korean government is under growing pressure to free the 21 hostages taken almost three weeks ago on their way to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from Kabul. Two of them have already been killed by the insurgents.
African Union chairman Alpha Oumar Konare on Tuesday added his voice to international condemnation of the kidnappings and urged the Taliban to release the South Korean hostages. "The South Koreans went to Afghanistan to help the poor," he told South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun. "The entire African countries condemn the Taliban captors."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week said it was shameful and "un-Islamic" to kidnap females while some 300 Afghans in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday called for the immediate release of the South Koreans in a street rally.
Seoul reportedly opposes a military operation to free the hostages and is pursuing diplomatic channels to prevent further loss of life. Eight senior South Korean legislators flew to Washington last week to lobby for support. South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon has also had meetings at the US state department. A top-level delegation, including the South Korean ambassador to Kabul, is continuing negotiations with the Taleban.