Taliban take kidnapped teachers to Pakistan

GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): The Taliban 10 of the 34 Kandahar University teachers they kidnapped two weeks ago, an official said on Tuesday.

The teachers were travelling from Qarabagh district to the Andar town of in southern Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway when kidnapped at gun point.

Giro district chief Abdullah Khairkhwa told Pajhwok Afghan News the Taliban initially kept the teachers in Andar district and then took them to Giro.

He said they had received information that 10 of the kidnapped men had been taken into Pakistan.

The district chief said tribal elders were in talks with the kidnappers about the release of the remaining teachers. However, the negotiations were yet to yield any results, he added.

Meanwhile, the governor’s spokesman Shafique Nang said the teachers remained in Taliban’s captivity, but efforts were underway to secure their release.

“We daily send tribal elders to the kidnappers, with whom talks are underway and there will be soon a positive outcome,” the gubernatorial spokesman said.

Ghazni police chief Zarawar Zahid also confirmed talks between tribal elders and the kidnappers were ongoing.

Deputy governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi had said before the runoff presidential election that the Taliban had promised to set free the teachers after the election.

He had said the teachers had been abducted by foreign militants, who were at odds over the issue with local comrades.

Wishing not to be named, a tribal elder in Giro district said they daily held talks with the insurgents, who had differences among themselves over the kidnapping issue.

“The armed men have no one leader. They come up daily with different excuses,” the elder said.

He also said the Taliban sometimes linked the kidnapping issue to their Quetta Council, asking elders to resolve it in Pakistan.

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