Afghan, foreign troops launch bid to rescue Koreans
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Afghan and international forces have launched an operation to rescue 23 South Koreans taken hostage by Taliban insurgents south of the capital Kabul, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
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GHAZNI, Afghanistan  - Taliban insurgents said on Tuesday they would release 19 South Korean Christian volunteers they have held for nearly six weeks, provided Seoul pull out its troops and stop Korean missionary work in Afghanistan by year-end.
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The Taliban threatened to kill 23 South Korean hostages if Afghan troops try to free them by force, as negotiations were under way to secure the release of the captives.
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South Korean hostages held by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan are in good health and any use of force to rescue them would risk the lives of the 23 Christian captives, a Taliban spokesman said on Monday.
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GHAZNI, Afghanistan  - Taliban insurgents freed 12 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan on Wednesday, a day after reaching a deal with Korean and Indonesian negotiators on the release of the 19 Christian volunteers.
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Some South Korean Christian aid workers held hostage in Afghanistan reported being beaten by their Taliban captors for refusing to convert to Islam or for protecting female captives, a hospital chief said Monday.
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Taliban militants threatened Friday to kill a group of abducted South Korean Christians, including 15 women, within 24 hours unless the Asian nation withdraws its 200 troops from Afghanistan. South Korea said Saturday it plans to withdraw its forces by the end of this year as scheduled.
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KABUL, July 20 -- Taliban fighters kidnapped at least 18 South Korean Christians from a bus Thursday, and a man purporting to speak for the Taliban said later that they would be killed within 24 hours unless South Korea withdrew its 200 troops from Afghanistan.
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The Taliban kidnappers of 23 Korean hostages on Sunday extended the deadline for the South Korean government to agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 24 hours to 10:30 a.m. EDT on Monday.
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Thousands of American and Afghan troops unleashed a new offensive against Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday in an effort to expand the government's reach into the volatile Pakistani border region.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 22 -- Afghan security forces on Sunday surrounded the suspected location where Taliban fighters are holding 23 South Korean hostages and were prepared to launch an operation if negotiations broke down, Afghan officials said.
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Afghanistan's Taliban plan to abduct and kill more nationals from foreign countries whose troops serve under NATO and the U.S. military in the country, a spokesman for the Islamic movement warned on Monday.
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Afghan troops on Tuesday prepared to deploy to a town in southern Afghanistan that one official said had been overrun by Pakistani militants.
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South Koreans held hostage by the Taleban in Afghanistan say they were told at gunpoint to convert to Islam.
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North Korea is seeking humanitarian aid at talks with the South, an official said on Thursday, signaling Pyongyang was trying to cash in on a reduction of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
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SEVILLE, Spain  - The United States raised pressure on NATO allies on Thursday to rush more troops to Afghanistan to crush an expected Taliban offensive, saying the coming weeks would be key in battling the insurgency.
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&quot;Forty five people made an attempt in the afternoon,&quot; a South Korean diplomat in Beijing said. &quot;We have sent staff to the Canadian Embassy to find out their identities and purposes of entry.