GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taleban insurgents freed 12 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan on Wednesday, a day after reaching a deal with Korean and Indonesian negotiators on the release of the 19 Christian volunteers. | I'm no mathemetical genius, but it doesn't seem like 12 and 19 are the same. |
A Taleban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by telephone he expected all of the hostages to be free by Thursday.
South KoreaÂ’s presidential Blue House said the final agreement was on condition it withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within the year and stopped its nationals doing missionary work in Afghanistan. However, South Korea had already decided before the crisis to withdraw its contingent of about 200 engineers and medical staff from Afghanistan by the end of 2007. Since the hostages were taken it has banned its nationals from travelling there.