According to The Korea Herald:
"The Taliban will set free all 19 South Koreans taken hostage in Afghanistan since mid-July."The gist of the deal?
"The agreement was reached on conditions that South Korea withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by the year's end and impose a ban on its Christian nationals' missionary activities in the Southwest Asian country."Someone must think this is better than trading Taliban prisoners/fighters for the missionary hostages. Back on July 26th Chief Presidential Secretary for Security Policy Baek Jong-chun, following the slaying of one of the hostages said:
'"The Korean government clearly states that the organization responsible for the abduction will be held accountable for taking the life of a Korean citizen. The killing of an innocent citizen cannot be justified under any circumstance or for any reason, and any such inhumane act can not be tolerated.'"Now that the abductors have been held "accountable," we can see how a nation refuses to tolerate "such inhumane" acts; by leaving. Thankfully with this strong response in hand the Taliban will hesitate when considering taking hostages in the future. Phew, that was a close one.
Details of when the 19 remaining hostages will be released will follow further "consultations" with the Taliban captors.
Proof positive that diplomacy can work...
Don't know why, but I woke up in the middle of the night and wondered how this group of people was doing and then this news...hmmmm.
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