Despite reports yesterday that a rescue mission was underway to free the 21 remaining S. Korean hostages held by the Taliban, the U.S. and South Korea said today that no military action is being considered. Afghan troops, meanwhile, are conducting raids in the Ghazni area where the captives are being held, but insist that they are not aimed at the Taliban who seized the kidnapped Christians. Just other Taliban. Who just happen to be in the area.

Via Monsters and Critics:

Kabul/Seoul - The purported spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents said Thursday that their members had the first direct talk by telephone with South Korean delegates aimed at securing the release of 21 remaining hostages held by the rebels for the past two weeks.

The spokesman said that the conversation was held between the South Korean ambassador to Kabul and a representative of the Taliban rebels after the South Korean government announced its readiness for direct negotiations.

'Today there was a contact via telephone,' Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusif Ahmadi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone from an undisclosed location. 'Actually they have not asked us for face-to-face talks yet, and if they ask us for a meeting and specify the place and time, our representatives are in Ghazni, they are ready to meet them.'

Ahmadi said they will accept no substitute for the prisoner release they are demanding, and that South Korea should ask the international community and United Nations for help.

UPDATE: U.S. won't rule out force to free Afghan hostages

“All pressures need to be applied to the Taliban to get them to release these hostages,” said Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia. “We hope that pressure can be effective in a variety of ways, the goal is to get these people released unharmed, to get them released peacefully and safely.”

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