Hostages May Be on Hunger Strike

Nineteen Korean hostages being held by the Taliban are said to be on a hunger strike, demanding that they be held together instead of being separate.

“The captives started a hunger strike from the morning of August 19. They are separated into several groups and each group has two females and one male. What they want is to be held together,” said the Yonhap News Agency, quoting a local source on August 20.

“The 19 hostages are divided into five groups; four groups have four people and one group has three people. The hawkish kidnappers under the direction of the Taliban hold three groups, and the dovish kidnappers under the influence of Pakistan hold two groups,” said a local source according to the Yonhap.

"The Korean delegates proposed a ransom payment on August 11. Each faction had a different view on whether to accept the ransom and release the hostages, however. The more extreme kidnappers won out and the Taliban rejected this possible solution, demanding the release of its colleagues in prison,” the source added.

“We can’t confirm whether there’s a hunger strike going on,” said Cheon Ho-seon, the presidential spokesman, on August 20.

The Taliban was quoted as telling the AFP (Agence France-Presse), “We will restart face-to-face negotiations with Korea only after our demands are accepted.

“Korea wants face-to-face negotiations. But negotiations are meaningless unless our demands are met," said Abdullah Jan, Taliban commander of Ghazni, in a telephone conversation with the AFP.

On August 19, purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi was quoted as telling the AFP, “We didn’t say anything about a deadline,” in response to some reports that the Taliban had set a new deadline for talks.

Meanwhile, a German woman who works for a Christian relief agency was abducted by four armed men in a restaurant in Kabul on August 18. Afghan police raided the hideout of the kidnappers at dawn on August 20 and rescued her. The Taliban said the abduction had nothing to do with them.

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