Deal on Korean hostages

KABUL - South Korea and the Taleban have reached a deal to free 19 Christian hostages held for six weeks, with Seoul agreeing to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by 2008 and end all missionary work there.

News of the deal, brokered after direct talks between the two sides in central Afghanistan, came out of the South Korean presidency but was swiftly confirmed by Taleban representative Qari Mohammad Bashir who said the first of the hostages would be released almost immediately.

It remained unclear what the Taleban may have obtained in return. It had been demanding the release of militant prisoners in exchange for the hostages' freedom but Afghan officials had ruled out any such arrangement through fear of encouraging further kidnappings. The Taleban had previously said it was not interested in any sort of ransom payment and South Korean officials said money had not been mentioned during the negotiations.

The kidnapping of the South Koreans was the most serious incident of its kind since the 2001 invasion by Coalition forces that ousted the Taleban from power. A total of 23 were kidnapped as they travelled by bus from Kabul to the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19.

Two men were executed and several weeks ago two women were released in what was described as a goodwill gesture.

- Independent