Afghanistan tries to abort nascent market in hostage-taking

The New York Times reports:

Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, on Sunday ruled out any further deals with kidnappers after a videotape was broadcast showing two French aid workers whom the Taliban claimed to be holding hostage...

“We will avoid the exchange of hostages with the criminals,” Mr. Spanta told reporters. “If we do it once or twice, it will become a procedure. It won’t have an end.”

“The policy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is that criminals should not be rewarded, they should be punished, and the Taliban are a criminal group,” he said.

Recall that the market in hostage-taking in Afghanistan was established when the Afghan government and Italy struck a deal with the Taliban in order to obtain the release of an Italian journalist who had been kidnapped in March.

As the Times reports:

Since then, the two French aid workers have been abducted, with three Afghan colleagues, in southwestern Afghanistan.