Taliban Ringing Kabul

"It is getting farther away from the border (with Pakistan in the south). What was cross-border is becoming local," Joanna Nathan, a Kabul-based security analyst for the International Crisis Group, told The Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday, July 24.

Nathan cited the abduction last week of 23 South Koreans missionaries in Ghazni, the capital of the eastern province of Ghazni.

"Ghazni is important as the gateway to Kabul, and control of that road is very important, both symbolically and practically," said the expert.

The abduction of foreigners and Afghans in the strategic province has almost become a daily occurrence.

Ghazni has become the "kidnapping capital of the country," said Nic Lee, director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO) in Kabul.

Lee put at 60 the number of people who have been kidnapped in the province since April 1.

Last week, a busload of 23 South Korean Christian proselytizers were abducted hours after the kidnapping of two German engineers in the bordering Wardak province.

A Taliban deadline, after which they are threatening to kill the hostages, expires Tuesday at 14: 30 GMT. The group had extended the deadline twice.

The bullet-riddled body of one of the two Germans was found on a road Sunday, July 22, and Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the second was now drifting in and out of consciousness.

Taliban wants both Berlin and Seoul to pull their troops out of the war-battered country and the release of 33 jailed followers.

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