Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, claims that the Taliban received only a small quantity of medical supplies sent by a group of Afghan doctors. Yes, finally, Afghan doctors were allowed to airdrop some medicine – plenty of medicine according to the Afghan doctors.

I don’t believe for a moment the Taliban claims that it’s only a small amount.

Also in this article:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. President George W. Bush also reconfirmed their longstanding position that they would not make concessions to the kidnappers during their summit on Aug. 5-6.

Prior to the summit, Ahmadi threatened to kill more hostages, saying, “Karzai and Bush will bear the responsibility for whatever happens to the hostages.” The Taliban have already killed two male hostages.

So, somehow it is the fault of Karzai and Bush if the Taliban kill more hostages? How’s that for logic?

I do believe that we are our brother’s keeper. In a sense, the U.S. does have a responsibility here, simply because of our large role on the world stage. However, the logic of pinning murder on the U.S. because our government refuses to buckle to the demands of crazed Islamic terrorists…

The U.S. is doing the right thing by engaging in diplomacy with the legitimate governments of South Korea and Afghanistan. There is much more going on behind the scenes than we know. But, once again, compromising with a madman should not be on the list of action.

The purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said that 16 of the 21 remaining hostages are sick, mostly suffering from dehydration and intestinal disorders, and that two of the female hostages are gravely ill. They were all just fine when they were kidnapped off the bus, so what abuses or torture have the Taliban been inflicting to make the hostages so sick???

And this statement from Ahmadi displays the Taliban’s inhumanity:

Medical assistance and treatment will be of no use if we later kill them. Killing even the women is not a problem with us.

There is no breakthrough in sight. Taliban and South Korean negotiators are trying to find an agreeable place for face-to-face talks, but nothing suggested so far has been suitable. The Associated Islamic Press reported that the Taliban requested a U.N. guarantee of their safety during any talks.

What to say? Clearly the Taliban will agree to only one thing: a trade of Taliban prisoners for the Korean hostages. Both the Afghan government and the United States are firm in their position of no trade. What’s there to talk about? And why should the U.N. be protecting cold-blooded, murderous terrorists? As terribly risky as it is, my humble opinion would be to effect a covert military operation to free the hostages.

Right now, I’m frustrated because I’m getting hardly a thing on this story from the major news outlets. Not even included in CNN’s Top 100 Stories on Terrorism! Why the silence on this hostage crisis??

This came today from Canada.com, a Reuters story:

South Korea and the United States agreed on Thursday not to use force to free 21 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, but Afghan troops warned of a possible offensive in the area where the captives are held.

This from jihadwatch.org on July 31, a CBS/AP story:

A high-ranking Taliban commander in Afghanistan with direct involvement in the capture and captivity of a group of South Koreans has told CBS News, “we might stop killing hostages, because our strategy may be changing.

The Afghan government is “under extreme pressure, and they are embarrassed, so we want to keep them in this situation and sustain this crisis for a while,” the militant said in a phone interview.

Grace, regarding the feelings of many people that perhaps these Korean Christians brought this on themselves for ever going to such a violent place to begin with. Blame should not be placed on the victim. To understand the heart and motivation of these men and women, one really has to understand their Christian faith. They were providing humanitarian aid, just as the many Red Cross or Peace Corps workers would provide, and we certainly don’t condemn those folk for being in a war-torn place.

But Christians, for some reason, we blame. Because of that element of Christianity that calls for the preaching of the Good News of the Gospel of Christ to all nations. One cannot be a Christian and ignore that command. I am sure that in addition to providing for the physical needs of people in the region, this group was also very concerned with the spiritual needs, which, in the long run, are far more critical.

Personally, families of the kidnapped South Koreans directing their anger to the US is not right and not fair. I know they’ve been to a lot lately but forgive me, I want to ask them, why on earth did they ever think of going to such violent, unstable and war-torn land in the first place?