A purported spokesman for the Taliban said that officials from Seoul and the Taliban will hold their first face-to- face talks Friday evening in southern Afghanistan to discuss the fate of 21 remaining South Korean hostages, according to dpa. "The talks have been set to take place in Ghazni province between our representatives and Korean delegates," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone from an undisclosed location. He said that Mullah Nasrullah and Mullah Mohammad Bashir, two Taliban leaders, had been appointed by "Taliban Supreme Council" to carry out the negotiation with Seoul's representatives. Ahmadi added that the Afghan government had guaranteed safety for the Taliban's negotiators at the venue. Provincial spokesman for the governor of Ghazni, Aziz Mangal, said that he was not aware of the meeting, but an Afghan parliamentarian, who is part of the negotiation, and who declined to be named said, "Yes, they will meet tonight."
