Taliban fear a rescue attempt for hostages

CBS/AP:

A local Taliban commander in Afghanistan's Ghazni province has told CBS News that Afghan and U.S. soldiers are going door to door in the area in a new effort to rescue 21 South Korean hostages.

"There weren't any Taliban there, but now they are going there to ambush the troops and clear them from the area," the militant, who identified himself as Haji Nurullah, told CBS News in a telephone interview.

Nurullah said there hadn't been any gunfire or other combat yet, but that coalition troops were knocking on doors in three villages in the Shelghar and Karabagh districts, asking residents to support the government rather than the Taliban.

He said troops had also knocked on the door of a well-known madrassa, or Islamic religious school, in a nearby village.

The military maneuvers came hours after leaflets were dropped by military aircraft in the area, warning residents that an operation was imminent and that, for their safety, they should head to government controlled areas.

CBS News' Sami Yousafzai reports that the only area truly controlled by the U.S.-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the area is central Ghazni City — the Taliban wields huge influence and boasts a lot of support in the outlying areas.

Interviewed by CBS News on Monday, the Taliban's senior commander in Ghazni province, Mullah Sabil Nasir, warned; "If they do conduct an operation here, it will be a 100 percent failure."

"They know our locations and our areas, if they leave Ghazni City, we are everywhere," Nasir added confidently.

Earlier Wednesday, a Taliban sub-commander in Ghazni province, who has direct contacts with the militants holding 21 South Korean hostages, told CBS News that none of the captives had been killed or died of natural causes, contradicting reports in some media that there had been two deaths.

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Interviewed by CBS News on Tuesday, Nasir expressed frustration at apparently not being able to negotiate directly with South Korean authorities, suggesting Karzai's government was blocking any such discussion.

Abdullah did not elaborate Wednesday on the progress of the apparently new lines of communication between Taliban militants and South Korean representatives.

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Abdullah dismissed any plans for a government military siege to rescue the hostages, saying the captives were not being held in one group, and they were no longer in the area from which they were abducted.

"The Afghan government just wants to make us angry, and push us to kill all the hostages at once to bring an end to the crisis," Nasir, the senior Taliban commander told CBS News on Tuesday.

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Again, CBS News makes no comment on the Taliban war crime or violation of the Geneva Conventions. You would think a hard hitting CBS News reporter would ask the Taliban about such matters. Perhaps the reporters are afraid of the Taliban. What is curious about this story is that CBS has no difficulty located the Taliban spokesmen. I am curious why our side have not found him and arrested him.