Plea From Pope: Release S. Korean Hostages

Afghan Officials Say No Progress Has Been Made To Secure Release Of 22 South Korean Hostages

(AP)  Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for the release of Korean hostages held in Afghanistan.

"It's a grave violation of human dignity," the pope said, speaking from Castel Gandolfo, a papal retreat on the hills south of Rome.

"I issue my appeal so that the perpetrators of such criminal acts desist from the evil they have carried out and give back their victims unharmed," the pope said during his traditional Sunday prayer.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday the kidnapping of 22 South Koreans by Taliban militants was shameful and that abducting women in particular was against Islam.

In his first comments on the crisis since the South Koreans were taken hostage on July 19, Karzai criticized the kidnapping of "foreign guests," especially women, as un-Islamic and against Afghan culture.

"This will have a shameful effect on the dignity of the Afghan people," Karzai said, according to a statement from the presidential palace released after talks with a South Korean delegation.

Afghan officials, meanwhile, reported no progress in talks with tribal elders to secure the release of the hostages.

Two days of meetings between elders of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, where the South Korean hostages were kidnapped on July 19, and a delegation of senior officials from Kabul, yielded no results so far, said Shirin Mangal, spokesman for the Ghazni provincial governor.

"So far there is no progress from the meetings," Mangal said.

The meeting is being held behind closed doors, and Mangal did not divulge any details.

Two Afghan lawmakers, including a former Taliban commander, Abdul Salaam Rocketi, joined the negotiations Saturday.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, complained Saturday that the Afghan delegation "doesn't have the power to release prisoners" — the key Taliban demand from the outset of the hostage crisis.

He said the Taliban wanted the hostages "to go home safe," but they first wanted 23 Taliban militants released from Afghan prisons.

A leader of the South Korean group, which was kidnapped while traveling by bus on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare, was shot and killed last week. The 22 other hostages, including 18 women, remain captive.

A South Korean presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, met Afghan's President Hamid Karzai on Sunday to discuss the hostage situation. No details of the talks were immediately available.

Afghan officials have said they are optimistic the hostages will be freed without further bloodshed, although the kidnappers have threatened to kill their captives if their demands are not met.

Ahmadi said the militants hoped the South Korean envoy can "persuade the Afghan government" to swap imprisoned militants for the captives.

"If they don't release the Taliban prisoners, then the Taliban does not have any option other than to kill the Korean hostages," he said, reiterating an earlier threat.

Local tribal elders and clerics from Qarabagh have been conducting negotiations by telephone with the captors for several days.

Ahmadi said the hostages were being held in small groups in different locations and that some of them were in poor health.

[grammawhamma]

In an earlier post I asked someone/anyone to please explain to me why they feel the need to belong to an organized religion. I really would like to know their reasoning behind it. Anyone willing to answer this??

[seven-pesos]

southerners hope to elect another faith professing, conservative republican.

the south hopes to win the all time loser's award.

jefferson davis lost his war...
johnson lost his war...
bush will lose his war...

if the south can lose just one more war,

they will beat the french for most wars lost, ever!

ha,ha,ha.

those idiot southern republican christian creeps ought to stay in church.

they're not suited for fighting america's wars.

nothing good comes out of the south.

[toolmangler-2009]

Au contraire, kidnapping is very Islamic. Muslims use human shields all the time. The Palestinians send children to the front line of the intifada so they can be killed for propaganda purposes, while the evil old men hide in the shadows. The Iranians held the personnel of the US Embassy hostage for over a year. Hezbollah kidnaps and tortures.

It's time to fact up to the facts about Islam, at least in its current manifestation.
Posted by jmurrieta1 at 11:08 AM : Jul 29, 2007



I agree,Lets post it all. its worth it.

[hermit22]

deserves a repost:

while the evil old men hide in the shadows.
Posted by jmurrieta1 at 11:08 AM : Jul 29, 2007

[kimmyluv92]

please...pray for my heritage people.
those south koreans did nothing but only tried to share God's message.
please pray and help.
and i heard they are going to be killed today. at 12 sharp.
please God...
please pray for them...

[seven-pesos]

the whole world is laughing at america...

little does the world know that america has a dark side...

it's known as the republican, christian south...

formerly known as confederate rebel south.

the south never changed...

they just became reborns and republicans.

ha,ha,ha.

war, hate, rednecks, reborns...

nothing good comes out of the south.

[rheola-2009]

Singinrick

"As far as showing Muslims "respect", why should anyone show respect towards evil jihadists who are going around killing people every single day in the name of "allah??"."

I completely agree with that statement excepting in that the Jihadist's are a small minority of muslims.


"The only way Muslims can turn away from jihad is by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior, the God who loves them and doesn't tell them to participate in global "jihad".'

I totally disagree with that statement
As there is no evidence that Jesus Christ is any way a greater or lesser phrophet than is Mohamed.

I will agree that the Quoran is an evil book, but certainly no less evil than the old testament, which I fully acknowledge preceded Jesus Christ, but is the basis of both Christianity and Judaism, as I understand it.



Have a good day, I must now be off, will look in later.

[rheola-2009]

Singinrick
Singinrick

In my country, most people regard themselves as Christians also,and I do not feel that I disrespect either them or those in your country, also a relatively large number of people in my country are muslims, as in your country.

I have little respect for them in general, as obviously do you, should you not show them some respect also.

In a lot of respects, I envy people with a religous belief, as, that is something they can fall back on to in order to help them through difficult times, but that envy, does not allow me to believe in something that can not be shown in any way to exist.

I may well have it all wrong, I am willing to admit that, but could never come to accept something that has absolutely no basis in fact

Unfortunately, though you and I may agree in part, we shall never agree in totality, and I really should not allow myself to be baited by your comments, as we would not reach a point anywhere near complete agreement.
However I do respect you for your strength in your belief.


All the best.

[middleman8]

Why is the pope worried about a few Koreans who were warned not to go to Iraq.
Is there hidden reasons?
WHY DOESN'T THE POPE CONDEM THE SLAUGHTER IN IRAQ? DENOUNCE BUSH AND HIS FOLLOWERS.
The CIA learned its tactics from the Jesuits.
I also am EX catholic.

[seven-pesos]

slave state republican christian south...

******, wars, hypocrite christians,

george bush, foley, robertson, vitter, haggard, limbaugh, falwell, swaggart..

gawd, flag waving & bible thumping...

it's like an idiot's circus in the south.

reborns, rednecks, war makers, christan creeps, flag wavers, bible thumpers...

bush's kind of people!

nothing good comes out of the south!