Taliban

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South Korea Begins Taliban Hostage Talks

Hostages said to be safe while negotiations continue

(Newser) - A South Korean team began face-to-face negotiations with the Taliban today, hoping to secure the lives of 21 Korean aid workers abducted last month. The meeting is taking place in an Afghan government-controlled zone where the Taliban has been guaranteed temporary safe passage. Seoul has already cautioned that it doesn't...

Musharraf Backs Down From Emergency Rule

Under pressure, ruling general instead moves toward elections

(Newser) - After wide speculation that he would invoke emergency measures to deal with mounting violence and instability, Pakistan's president put out word today that he will stay the course on elections, Reuters reports. Beset by Islamic militants, constitutional challenges and declining poll numbers, Pervez Musharraf was thought to be on the...

Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting
Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting

Musharraf Bails on Karzai Meeting

Pakistan chief snubs Afghan jirga; US claims 'good reasons'

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf has backed out of meetings with his Afghan counterpart in an abrupt snub that initially shocked Washington. Musharraf told Hamid Karzai he has other “engagements" at home in Pakistan and can't attend the meeting of tribal leaders intended to discuss military violence. The US is looking into...

Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran
Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran

Bush, Karzai Diverge on Iran

Leaders discuss regional stability

(Newser) - President Bush and Hamid Karzai emerged from today's Camp David meetings together, but they've clearly parted ways on the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Iran's role in Afghanistan. Bush put the onus on Iran to demonstrate that it's not a "destabilizing force," the Washington Post reports, but Karzai is already...

Hostage: We Don't Want to Die
Hostage: We Don't Want to Die

Hostage: We Don't Want to Die

Medicines delivered to South Korean captives

(Newser) - Afghan doctors yesterday delivered medicines to 21 South Korean hostages held by Taliban rebels as one of the captives pleaded for their lives in an emotional radio interview. "We are all sick and weak," a nurse told Voice of America, pleading with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to...

Karzai to Meet With Musharraf
Karzai to Meet With Musharraf

Karzai to Meet With Musharraf

Feuding leaders will discuss quest for insurgents operating along shared border

(Newser) - Facing mounting US pressure to extinguish the Taliban and capture Osama bin Laden, dueling presidents Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai will meet this week to discuss anti-terrorism efforts, CNN reports. Karzai has criticized his Pakistani counterpart for failed efforts to crack down on terrorism, but today the Afghan leader praised...

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks
Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks

Delegation arrives in Afghanistan while Afghans, Taliban search for venue

(Newser) - South Korean officials are in Afghanistan seeking direct talks with the Taliban, Reuters reports, as the terrorist group and the Afghan government bicker over a venue for their own negotiations to free the  21 remaining Korean hostages. Two male members of the church group have been killed by the kidnappers.

Seoul to Taliban: Our Hands Are Tied

Frustrated South Korean govt. lacks authority to satisfy kidnappers' demands

(Newser) - South Korean officials on a desperate mission to Afghanistan are attempting to impress upon the Taliban that they cannot single-handedly meet the organization's demands. The delegation has been in contact with the kidnappers in an efforts to negotiate the release of 21 South Korean hostages, Reuters reports, but it can't...

Seoul Seeks Direct Talks With Taliban

South Korean delegation heads to DC to seek help in hostage crisis

(Newser) - South Korean delegates arrived in Afghanistan today to press for an end to the 2-week hostage crisis that has left two dead, Reuters reports. Seoul has asked for direct talks with the Taliban, which continues to hold 21 church workers, most of them women. But South Korea is powerless to...

Body of Second Korean Hostage Found
Body of Second Korean Hostage Found

Body of Second Korean Hostage Found

More will die unless prisoners are freed, kidnappers warn

(Newser) - Afghan police have found the body of a second Korean hostage killed by the Taliban, Reuters reports. The man was shot in the head, and his body found in a clover field close to the spot where 23 Korean missionaries were kidnapped last week. The kidnappers have threatened to kill...

Taliban Claims Second Hostage Death
Taliban Claims Second Hostage Death

Taliban Claims Second Hostage Death

(Newser) - The Taliban has killed a second South Korean hostage, a spokesman for the extremist group told CNN in a telephone interview today, adding that the corpse was dropped off in the province of Ghazni in central Afghanistan. Officials have not located any bodies in that area. The militants already murdered...

Red Mosque Inspires Clone
Red Mosque Inspires Clone

Red Mosque Inspires Clone

Pakistani Militants take over another mosque, name it after scene of bloody siege

(Newser) - The Red Mosque has become a franchise: pro-Taliban militants have occupied a different shrine in northwestern Pakistan and renamed it after the Islamabad mosque where 102 people died after a protracted siege. The fighters also promise to build a girls' seminary to replace the one that was destroyed by Pakistani...

Afghan Hostage Talks Stall as Threats Escalate

Karzai blasts Taliban, saying abductions are 'against Islam'

(Newser) - The Taliban will kill 22 South Korean hostages tomorrow if the Afghan government does not release insurgent prisoners, a spokesman for the kidnappers said today. The Taliban leadership council issued the most recent death threat since the abductions Wednesday, signaling its seriousness, Reuters reports. And Afghan and foreign troops are...

Force May Be Used to Free Korean Hostages

In phone call, female hostage pleads for release

(Newser) - One of the 22 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan spoke to a Reuters reporter today, saying she and the other remaining hostages are continually moved to different locations. She appealed to both the Taliban and the Afghan government to free them. A senior Afghan official said force “certainly”...

Captive Pleads for Rescue From Taliban

Woman says she and 21 other South Korean hostages are ill

(Newser) - A South Korean woman pleaded to be rescued with her fellow hostages yesterday, saying all of church volunteers being held captive by the Taliban are sick and the situation is growing worse. Her captors listened to her conversation with an Afghan reporter, the BBC reports; the 32-year-old nurse wept as...

General Faces Demotion in Tillman Probe

Six other officers will draw career-ending punishments

(Newser) - A retired three-star general who allegedly misled investigators about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan could be stripped of his stars and part of his pension, Pentagon officials told CNN. Retired Lt. Gen. Phillip Kensinger told inspectors he didn't know the Green Beret was killed by...

1 Killed, 8 Freed in Afghanistan Hostage Crisis

Taliban threatens to kill more South Koreans

(Newser) - The Taliban has killed one of the 23 South Koreans it's holding captive today, and vowed to murder the rest by 1 AM local time if the Afghan government does not release insurgents. CNN reports that 8 hostages have been freed, however, while the slain captive's bullet-riddled body was discovered...

75 Taliban Killed; Deadline Extended for South Koreans

(Newser) - Afghan and coalition troops have killed 75 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, while a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Taliban says the deadline has been extended for talks concerning its 23 South Korean hostages. The Afghan militants are threatening to kill the captured Koreans unless 23 of its own jailed fighters...

Taliban Ups Demands for 23 Korean Hostages

Kidnappers want full prisoner release

(Newser) - Taliban militants holding 23 Korean aid workers hostage increased their demands today, insisting that  the government release all insurgent prisoners in the province, according to a kidnap spokesman. The militants threatened to kill the hostages  if a response isn't forthcoming by 10:30 a.m. EDT, the AP reports.

Musharraf Faces Bumpy Road to Re-Election

Bhutto mounts challenge to second presidential term

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf is facing yet another hurdle: Benazir Bhutto says she will return to Pakistan to challenge his plans for another presidential term. The exiled ex-PM tells the Sunday Times she is considering abandoning talks with the increasingly unpopular Musharraf, embarrassed last week after the country's Supreme Court reinstated the...

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