KABUL: The Afghan Taliban will soon free the last four of eight Turkish civilians detained last month, the militants said yesterday, in what they called a gesture of goodwill towards fellow Muslims.
Turkey said on Sunday that four Turks had been released and handed to its intelligence agency. The eight were taken captive by the Taliban in the eastern province of Logar when their helicopter was forced to make a “hard landing”.
Two pilots from Russia and Kyrgyzstan were also aboard the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter when poor weather forced it to land near the Pakistani border on April 21. They are alive and currently “under investigation and interrogation”, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
“Once that is complete, we will decide on their fate,” Mujahid said of the Russian-Kyrgyz pair. Sunday’s release of four Turks was “a gesture of good faith, taking into account Turkey’s good relationship with Afghanistan”, he said, adding that the rest would be freed in the near future.
Nato-member Turkey has close, long-standing ties with Afghanistan, having been one of the first countries almost a century ago to recognise Afghan independence from Britain in 1919 and shortly afterwards to establish diplomatic relations.
Turkey has about 1,800 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, most of them based around the capital, Kabul, and it also trains Afghan security forces. The force has suffered relatively few casualties as it has a non-combat role.
While Taliban kidnappings take place across Afghanistan, the seizing of such a large group of foreigners is rare.
All Nato combat missions will end by next year and the 100,000 foreign troops deployed across Afghanistan have already begun to withdraw from the battlefield. More than a decade after the Taliban were toppled in 2001, Afghanistan remains in the grip of a violent insurgency, with militants launching daily strikes on officials, police and Nato and Afghan soldiers. The “residual” US force ranging from 2,500 to 12,000 troops may stay to focus on Al Qaeda militants and training of national police and army. AGENCIES
