The Taliban militia, holding 21 South Koreans hostage in Afghanistan, said Thursday it will not change its demands for the release of Taliban prisoners as a condition to the captives’ release.

   Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, purported spokesman for the Taliban, repeated that the prisoners must first be freed for negotiations to continue on the hostages. The rebel group earlier gave the names of eight people, all believed to be senior leaders, that it wants the Afghan government to free.

   “When the eight are released, then we can accept the idea of exchanging the hostages one to one,” he told Yonhap in an interview arranged from Dubai.

…  Ahmadi said Abdullah Jan Abu Mansoor, the Taliban commander for Ghazni Province, where the hostages were seized, was “warned by top leaders” for overstepping his authority. The commander is believed to have masterminded the abductions and arranged phone interviews of female captives.

   “He was warned not to act as if he represents the Taliban,” Ahmadi said.

   The Taliban leaders were displeased about the hostage interviews and chastised him not to arrange them any more, he said. Yonhap News

While South Korean officials continue to attempt to set up direct negotiations with the captors, the South Korean government has ordered all aid agencies out of Afghanistan this month. The South Korean Foreign Ministry has denied journalist access to Afghanistan because of security reasons. 18 women and 3 men are being held in Ghazni province, a 22 thousand square kilometer area divided into 19 districts, with a population of about 931 thousand people.