Afghanistan again rules out swap of prisoners for S.Koreans release

Afghanistan has reiterated its stand against the trade of Taliban prisoners in exchange for the release of 21 South Koreans held by the rebels in Afghanistans Ghazni Province.

Kabul, Aug 4 : Afghanistan has reiterated its stand against the trade of Taliban prisoners in exchange for the release of 21 South Koreans held by the rebels in Afghanistan's Ghazni Province.

The Taliban has killed two of the 23 hostages, and threatened to shoot more if their demand of a prisoner release is not met.

"They (the militants) can only talk about money, ransom," Afghan negotiator and parliamentarian Mahmood Gailani was quoted as telling foreign media.

Gailani said negotiations over South Koreans were being conducted mainly by a South Korean delegation.

"Not only the Americans are opposed to an exchange of prisoners, it is against the policy of the government," The News quoted Gailani as saying.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has already refused to swap prisoners for hostages, after he was criticised for releasing five Taliban members from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter

Meanwhile, the Taliban has reportedly demanded a neutral venue to hold talks with South Korean officials over the fate of 21 South Koreans in their captivity.

The Taliban have agreed to talk, but have refused to meet at a place under the NATO-led forces.

Meanwhile, a group of South Korean Parliamentarians has travelled to Washington to lobby for international support over the hostage crisis.

In Seoul, families of the South Korean hostages have made a fresh appeal for their release.

The 23 Korean Christian aid workers - 18 of them women - were seized on July 19 as they were travelling on a bus down the Kabul-Kandahar Highway.

ANI