KABUL - Afghan special forces called off a plan to rescue 23 Korean hostages soon after they were kidnapped by Taleban insurgents five weeks ago because the South Korean government intervened, the defence minister said on Saturday.“From day one, especially from the second day of the Korean hostage crisis, the national army was in position to initiate military action. We wanted to use our first commando battalion, an elite unit,” Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told a news conference.
The Taleban split the hostages into small groups early on, officials say, making any rescue bid much more difficult. The kidnappers have repeatedly warned that any military operation would put the hostagesÂ’ lives at risk.
“A hostage rescue operation is a very complicated operation,” said Wardak. “To make it successful, it needs very elaborate intelligence, inside information. But what happened was the international community asked us not take military action and that was the repeated request of the South Korean government.”