SEOUL — South Korea’s government yesterday won the release of all 19 Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan by promising to halt visits by Christian missionaries to the Muslim nation and to pull out its troops by the end of the year.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Yonhap news agency that the hostages “can’t be released at one time” because they are spread across Afghanistan, and that it would take “up to five days” to set them all free.
The hostages were all members of a Christian aid group. The Korean government has about 200 troops in Afghanistan, engaged in reconstruction rather than combat missions.
After the hostages were seized nearly six weeks ago, South Korea banned its citizens from traveling to the troubled nation.
It was never clear whether the group from a popular church in Seoul was in Afghanistan to distribute aid, proselytize or a combination of the two.
Christian missionaries are prohibited in Afghanistan and throughout most of the Muslim world because Islam forbids conversion to any other religion. Those who do convert are either jailed, executed, or exiled to non-Muslim countries.
As for certainty that the Taliban would keep its promise, a South Korean official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Times: “We are quite sure; I don’t want to get into specifics.”
On Korean television news, hostage family members were shown rejoicing and embracing each other.
“We can smile now,” said the families’ spokesman, Cha Sung-min, thanking the officials and people who had negotiated the hostages’ release.
“But the two who were killed … and their families, we feel deeply sorry,” he added, and broke down in tears.
The Taliban captured the 23-member group in southern Afghanistan on July 19. The group’s leader, the Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu, and another man, Shim Sung-min, were executed on July 25 and July 31.
The Korean government began direct negotiations with the Taliban on Aug 10.
Three days later, the Taliban released two female captives.
The Taliban had demanded the liberation of jailed fighters held by the Afghan government. Kabul consistently rejected that demand.
Mr. Ahmadi, the Taliban spokesman, told Yonhap that the group decided to withdraw its demand once it became clear that it was beyond the South Korean government’s authority to grant it.
The fate of the hostages has been a constant concern in South Korea.
Downtown Seoul office buildings have been draped in giant banners in English, Arabic and Korean praying for the safe return of the 19.
The hostages’ family members sent delegations to embassies of Islamic nations and took their pleas to the video-sharing Web site YouTube.
A successful end to the hostage crisis would undoubtedly boost the popularity of outgoing President Roh Moo-hyun and his political supporters, which is at a new low.
On Afghanistan’s battlefields yesterday, U.S.-led and Afghan troops fought suspected Taliban insurgents in the south in ground clashes and air strikes that left over 100 militants dead, according to the Associated Press which quoted coalition sources.
In eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked NATO troops helping to build a bridge, killing three American soldiers, a U.S. official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Also yesterday, U.S.-led and Afghan troops raided a house near Kandahar city, killing two suspected militants and detaining five others, a coalition statement said.
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