The radical Islamist Taliban declared Saturday that the negotiations with Seoul over the release of 19 South Korean hostages. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that his side felt that the negotiators sent by Seoul apparently did not have the power to persuade the Afghan government to meet Taliban's demands for a release of its members from prison. Further talks would be "a waste of time," Ahmadi said, saying that Taliban's leadership council would now consider the further fate of the remaining 19 South Korean hostages. The Taliban originally captured 23 South Koreans on July 19. In the meantime, two of the male hostages have been shot after deadlines for the Taliban's demands were not met, while two ailing female hostages had been freed.
