According to a story carried in the South Korean English-language Chosun Ilbo newspaper (http://english.chosun.com), the head of a private clinic in the war-torn country told the news agency his team had dropped more than US$1,200 worth of antibiotics, painkillers, vitamin tablets and heart pills in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni Province, as instructed by the rebels.

“Im Hyun-ju, one of the women among the captives, told Yonhap News in indirect phone contacts Saturday and Sunday that the hostages are being held in several separate groups. She asked for medicines, saying two of them are seriously sick and pleaded with the world to help free the hostages,” the story continued.

The Associated Press (AP) reported, “As 21 remaining South Korean hostages entered their third week of captivity at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, families of the captives appealed to the Afghan people for help in securing the release of their loved ones.”

However, when no progress was made in pursuing face-to-face negotiations with the Korean government, purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi on Sunday, the 18th day of the crisis, threatened the militants would kill more hostages.

“He was quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press as saying that Korea failed to obtain a UN guarantee for the safety of the Taliban negotiating team who were to meet with the Korean delegation and did not even officially ask for one,” said the Chosun Ilbo report. “He said the Taliban could wait no longer and could start killing the hostages at any time. A senior UN official said the world body is in no position to take immediate action over the threat.”

The senior Taliban commander in Ghazni province, Mullah Sabil Nasir, told the Chosun Ilbo though senior political analyst Hamid Mir of Pakistan’s broadcaster GEO TV that the captors are considering freeing the two sick female hostages unconditionally under Islamic and humanitarian considerations.

The report continued, “On Saturday, a Korean government official briefly spoke directly by phone with one of the hostages. The official said the conversation took place as part of Korean negotiators’ phone contact with the kidnappers on Saturday afternoon. But he declined to elaborate what was said out of concern for the hostages’ safety. The government is apparently preparing for protracted negotiations with the Taliban, concluding that face-to-face talks with the captors will not happen in the near future.

“Asked if his government will negotiate with the Taliban, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai told CNN he discussed the hostage crisis with government officials ‘every hour’ and his government would take every possible measure for the release of the hostages, except any that encourage more terrorism and abductions. The Afghan government has rejected the Taliban’s demand for a swap of hostages for Taliban prisoners, which it says will encourage more kidnappings.”

After arriving in the U.S. on Sunday, Karzai is to discuss the hostage crisis with U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David on Monday.

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.