Afghan troops were ready to save hostages-minister

KABUL, Aug 25 (Reuters) Afghan special forces called off a plan to rescue 23 Korean hostages soon after they were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents five weeks ago because the South Korean government intervened, the defence minister said today.

The insurgents have killed two Korean hostages and have released two. Nineteen Koreans, 16 of them women, are still being held by the Taliban and talks to free them have stalled.

''From day one, especially from the second day of the Korean hostage crisis, the national army was in position to initiate military action. We wanted to use our first commando battalion, an elite unit,'' Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told a news conference.

The Taliban split the hostages into small groups early on, officials say, making any rescue bid much more difficult. The kidnappers have repeatedly warned that any military operation would put the hostages' lives at risk.

''A hostage rescue operation is a very complicated operation,'' said Wardak.

''To make it successful, it needs very elaborate intelligence, inside information. But what happened was the international community asked us not take military action and that was the repeated request of the South Korean government.'' The Taliban are demanding the Afghan government release imprisoned insurgents in return for the hostages. Kabul has refused to give in to the demand, saying that would just encourage more kidnapping.

The day before the Korean church volunteers were seized from a bus on the main highway southwest of Kabul, the Taliban abducted two German engineers and five of their Afghan colleagues from a neighbouring province.

One of the Germans suffered a heart attack soon after and was shot dead by his captors, but the other German, 62-year-old Rudolph B., and the Afghans are still being held hostage.

The Taliban want the German government to withdraw its 3,300 troops from Afghanistan, but Berlin has refused to do so.

Wardak said the Taliban had come close to releasing the German on a number of occasions.

''In the case of the German engineer, two or three times he was about to be released because an agreement was made,'' he said.

''People were even ready to go and pick him up, but somehow they (the Taliban) backed off. The assumption is that they are waiting for the development of Korean hostage situation.'' REUTERS RAR PM1914