Taliban deadline for hostages passes

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KABUL, July 30 (AP): A purported Taliban deadline for the lives of 22 South Korean hostages passed with no word on the captives' fate Monday, and an Afghan governor pleaded with the militants to give negotiations more time.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said midday Monday was the militants' latest deadline to kill one or more of the hostages if 23 Taliban prisoners weren't released from Afghan jails.
But that marker passed with no word from Taliban or government representatives. Several purported deadlines passed last week with no consequences, though Wednesday the militants shot to death one captive several hours after a deadline passed.
Marajudin Pathan, the governor of Ghazni province, where the South Koreans were abducted on July 19, said that authorities talked to the Taliban Sunday after they set the latest deadline and asked for two more days of talks.
"Fortunately, they did not reject our demand outright, but said that they need to talk to their leaders," Pathan said.
Because of the previous deadlines, it wasn't clear how seriously the militants would treat their latest ultimatum for the 22 remaining South Koreans.
The attempts to free the South Koreans come after President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials tried to shame the Taliban Sunday into releasing the 18 of the captives who are women by appealing to a tradition of cultural hospitality and chivalry.