Taliban Agree To Release South Koreans!!

Thank you Jesus!

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban agreed Tuesday to free 19 South Korean church volunteers held hostage since July after the government in Seoul agreed to end all missionary work and keep a promise to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
The Taliban originally seized 23 South Koreans, but have since killed two of the hostages and released two others. They had initially demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the country and the release of prisoners in exchange for freeing the hostages.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said South Korean and Taliban delegates at face-to-face talks Tuesday in the central town of Ghazni had "reached an agreement" to free the captives.
South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said the deal had been reached "on the condition that South Korea withdraws troops by the end of year and South Korea suspends missionary work in Afghanistan," he said.

German Woman Freed in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan - Four suspected kidnappers were captured Monday as Afghan police freed a German aid worker who had been snatched from a restaurant while she ate with her husband, officials said.
Hundreds of police freed the 31-year-old woman in a raid after midnight in western Kabul, not far from the area where she was taken captive on Saturday, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary.
He said authorities arrested and are interrogating "four suspects who are directly involved in this case." He said more than 300 police took part in the operation.
Police are searching for other accomplices, Bashary said.
Preliminary investigations indicate that it was a criminal gang — and not Islamic insurgents — who carried out the kidnapping, and that they demanded $1 million for the woman's release.

Taliban To Free 2 Hostages

Taliban kidnappers will release two of the 21 remaining South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan at 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT) on Monday, a Taliban spokesman said.
"We are releasing two sick Korean hostages at 4 o'clock today. We are going to hand them over between Ghazni and Zabul provinces to the Red Cross," the spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Yousuf said the decision to free the pair had been made by the Taliban leadership council, headed by Muhallah Mohammad Omar, as a gesture of goodwill towards the Korean people and South Korean diplomats negotiating for the hostages' release.
The Taliban have killed two male hostages and threatened to kill the remaining 21, 18 of them women, unless a similar number of Taliban prisoners are freed in exchange.

Bush, Karzai Oppose Swap for S. Korean Hostages Held by Taleban

President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai say there should be no prisoner swap to gain the freedom of 21 South Korean hostages held by the Taleban in Afghanistan.
During a second day of talks outside Washington, both leaders agreed a prisoner exchange would only embolden Taleban insurgents.
President Bush called for the immediate release of the hostages, who are volunteer aid workers from a South Korean church.
Taleban kidnappers are demanding the release of militants in exchange for the hostages. The kidnappers have already executed two of the South Koreans.
Earlier, a Taleban spokesman told news agencies the lives of the hostages are in the hands of Mr. Bush and Mr. Karzai.
of the 21 remaining captives are women, and many are reported to be sick after being held by the Taleban for nearly three weeks.
South Korean officials say the Taleban allowed one of the hostages to speak by phone to diplomats at South Korea's embassy in Kabul on Saturday.
In telephone calls to VOA and other news organizations Saturday, the hostages said two women in the group are seriously ill.
A shipment of medicine intended for the captives was delivered Sunday to a location in southern Afghanistan designated by the Taleban.
Efforts to arrange direct talks between the Taleban and South Korean officials have stalled with no agreement on a location for the negotiations.