AFGHANISTAN: The kidnappers of three UN workers in Afghanistan said the government agreed terms for their release yesterday, but there was no confirmation, and a top US official said a deal would encourage hostage-taking.
The kidnappers from a Taliban faction have threatened to kill Ms Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Ms Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Mr Angelito Nayan unless 26 Taliban prisoners, some of whom may be in US custody, were freed.
Mullah Sabir Momin, one of several men claiming to speak for the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said the group had talks with the government and UN officials via intermediaries yesterday.
"The intermediaries told us that the government has accepted our demands. They told us that our prisoners will be released in two or three days," he said. "If they release our men and meet our other demands, then we will free these foreign hostages."
The UN workers were abducted in Kabul on October 28th, after helping to run presidential polls won by US-backed incumbent Mr Hamid Karzai.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mr Lutfullah Mashal said he had seen media reports of a deal, but had no independent information to confirm that. "We are trying our best to release these hostages and return them to their families."
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Richard Armitage said the US wanted to see the hostages released, but said a deal should not be done with the kidnappers.
He declined to comment on efforts to free the UN workers, saying: "These matters have to be handled very delicately."
Mr Behgjet Pacolli, a Kosovo businessman and relative of Ms Hebibi who came to Kabul to press for her release, said he was "very optimistic" the three would be freed today.
Mr Pacolli said he had the information from "a very good source" whom he declined to identify. "I am sure they will be released," he said. "It's just a matter of processing." A UN spokesman in Kabul declined to comment.
Mullah Momin said 16 of the 26 Taliban prisoners his group wanted freed were arrested recently in south Afghanistan and could still be there, but the others could be in US jails at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or at Bagram, north of Kabul.
The Afghan government has in the past negotiated the release of several kidnapped foreigners, some by paying ransoms.
Mr Karzai issued a decree yesterday evening ordering a traditional prisoner amnesty to mark the Eid al-Fitr festival, which starts at the weekend. But a presidential official said the order did not cover the prisoners the militants want freed.
Those to be released include some elderly, sick and women prisoners, the decree order said. It did not say how many.
Several deadlines for the release of the Taliban members have passed, the latest yesterday morning.
Jaish leader Sayed Akbar Agha said his group had not demanded money.
"We don't want to kill anyone, but we will not release these hostages unless our prisoners are released," he said.
The abductions have raised fears among the 2,000-strong Western community in Afghanistan that militants have begun copying tactics of insurgents in Iraq.