Talks for U.N. workers’ release stall in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Negotiations over three kidnapped U.N. workers in Afghanistan have hit a snag over ransom demands, officials said Tuesday, as Taliban-linked militants said they were debating whether to “get rid” of the hostages.

The latest in a string of deadlines set by the militants passed Monday with no resolution to the kidnappings. Afghan officials said talks would resume after an Islamic holiday.

Philippine diplomat Angelito Nayan, British-Irish citizen Annetta Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo were seized at gunpoint on Oct. 28 after helping organize the country’s presidential election.

It was the first abduction of foreigners in the capital since the fall of the Taliban three years ago, raising fears that local militants were imitating insurgents in Iraq.

On Tuesday, two Afghan government officials told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that talks were bogged down over demands for a ransom that one put at $3 million.

“The government has bargained with the mediators to try to bring the ransom down. The worry is whether the money is going to really bring a result or if it will end up in the wrong hands,” one official said.

The official said middlemen failed to show on Monday to restart talks suspended for Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic festival that ended in Afghanistan on Monday. He had no explanation for their absence.

Another official said the government shared U.S. concerns that striking a deal with the hostage-takers would encourage more kidnapping.

Jaish-al Muslimeen, a little-known Taliban offshoot that claims to be holding the hostages, has said it wants 26 men in U.S. custody freed, but the American military says it will release no one and has received no list of prisoners.

The militants’ purported leader, Mohammed Akbar Agha, said his group was meeting Tuesday on the hostage’s fate.

“There are some of our members who have hardline views on the issue but there are others who have moderate views,” Agha told AP in a telephone call from an undisclosed location. “The hard-liners say we should get rid of the hostages. The others say we have the ability to keep the hostages for two years.”

Agha insisted his group was not seeking a ransom and claimed Afghan authorities had concocted the allegation because of their failure to resolve the crisis.

“We will not hold more talks with the Afghan government,” he said.