Glad it's over, because I was sick of the Zionist-controlled press pushing the Christian/Muslim tension.
And CUI BONO?
"Taliban release 12 S. Korean hostages; Action is part of deal to free all 19 captives" by Amir Shah/Associated Press August 30, 2007
QALA-E-KAZI, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants released 12 captives in a series of handovers yesterday, part of a deal with Seoul to free all 19 South Korean hostages that one Afghan minister warned would embolden the insurgents.
The South Koreans, Christian aid workers who were kidnapped nearly six weeks ago, were turned over to the International Committee of the Red Cross at three locations in central Afghanistan.
The remaining South Koreans will be freed over the next 48 hours, Taliban commanders have said.
The first three women freed came to Qala-E-Kazi in a single car, their heads covered with red and green shawls. Red Cross officials quickly took them to their vehicles and set out for the office of the Afghan Red Crescent in the town of Ghazni, witnesses said.
The Taliban apparently backed down on demands for a prisoner exchange. But the militant group... could emerge with enhanced political legitimacy for negotiating successfully with a foreign government.
Commerce Minister Amin Farhang told Germany's Bayerischer Rundfunk radio: "One has to say that this release under these conditions will make our difficulties in Afghanistan even bigger."
A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped July 18, the day before the South Koreans, are still being held.
South Korea's government, which has been under intense domestic pressure to bring the hostages home, said it tried to adhere to international principles while putting a priority on saving the captives.
South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun: "I don't think we made a big deviation from the international community's principle and practice. Other countries, when faced with this kind of problem, resolve the problem through contacts with kidnappers."
The deal was made in face-to-face talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in Ghazni. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were facilitated by the Red Cross.
The Taliban have not said why the hostages were not released all at once. One factor is believed to be logistics -- the captives may have been held in different places far from one another in the mountainous area."
"Taliban free last 7 church workers; Call S. Korea deal a 'great victory' " by Amir Shah/Associated Press August 31, 2007
JANDA, Afghanistan - Taliban militants released the last seven South Korean hostages yesterday under a deal with the government in Seoul, ending a six-week drama that the insurgents claimed as a "great victory for our holy warriors."
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea's decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them.
Mr. Ahmadi said by cellphone from an undisclosed location: "We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful."
The seven hostages were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in two separate exchanges close to the central Afghan city of Ghazni.
The final three released - two women and a man - were handed over by armed men on a main road in Janda district after apparently walking through the desert for some distance. Covered in dust, they were quickly bundled into a Red Cross vehicle and driven away.
The identity of the armed men was not clear. The Taliban said earlier they had handed the three hostages to tribal elders who would transfer them to the Red Cross and in Afghanistan, many villagers carry weapons.
The Taliban apparently backed down from an earlier demand for a prisoner exchange. The freed hostages were expected to fly back to South Korea by Sunday after health checks. In Washington, the State Department welcomed the hostages' release."
"Taliban Free Remaining 7 Koreans Held Captive" by David Rohde/New York Times August 31, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 30 — The Taliban freed the seven remaining South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan on Thursday, Afghan officials announced, ending a six-week hostage crisis that had placed enormous political pressure on the South Korean government.
All of the hostages appeared to be in good condition, the officials said. But signs quickly emerged that South Korea’s decision to hold direct talks with the Taliban might have emboldened the group.
After the release of the Korean hostages, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said in a telephone interview that the Taliban wanted direct negotiations with the German government regarding a German engineer kidnapped by the group one day before the South Koreans’ abduction.
Mr. Ahmadi said German officials had refused to hold direct talks with the Taliban:
“We haven’t decided the fate of the German. No one is asking about him.”
[Why didn't the AP make that clearer?
They left the impression that new hostages were going to be taken]
The release of the Koreans prompted journalists to ask German officials this week why they, too, had not begun direct negotiations with the Taliban. A spokesman for the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that the German government was doing all it could to win the engineer’s release, but that it would not be “blackmailed” by the Taliban.
South Korea reaffirmed a pledge to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, as previously planned, and agreed to prevent any evangelical activities by South Korean churches in Afghanistan. The Taliban, for its part, dropped a demand that eight senior Taliban prisoners be released in exchange for the South Koreans. South Korean and Taliban officials continued to deny that any money was paid.
In Washington on Thursday, a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, welcomed the hostages’ release, The Associated Press reported. Asked if South Korea’s negotiations with the Taliban set a precedent, he said American government policy remained to “not to make concessions to terrorists.”
[Taliban, terrorists, what's the difference?]
In South Korea, there has been a mixed reaction to the episode. There has been an outpouring of concern for the hostages but also criticism of the church’s decision to send the volunteers into such a dangerous area. On Thursday, the father of one of the hostages who was killed criticized the church.
Shim Chin-pyo, whose 29-year-old son was killed, told Agence France-Presse: “I wonder why the church was so reckless in taking them to the dangerous country. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, moving in such a conspicuous manner.”
The volunteers were kidnapped by the Taliban on July 19 while traveling by public bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Few foreigners travel that route by car or public bus because it is considered extremely dangerous.
The South Korean government and the church that sent them, the Saemmul Presbyterian Church, have said that the church members were sent as aid workers for schools and hospitals, not to spread Christianity in this Muslim country.
Across Afghanistan this year, the Taliban have increasingly used the kidnapping of foreigners as a tactic to gain publicity, the release of prisoners and, most likely, ransoms.
[At least they have a purpose. We just lock you up and torture you for no reason]
In a separate development, Afghan Army officials said they were investigating a report from one of their units that Mullah Bradar, one of the Taliban’s most senior commanders, was killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. American and NATO officials said they, too, were investigating the report but could not confirm it."
[We got Mullah Bradar, huh?
And HOW MANY MORE INNOCENTS were sacrificed?]
