Taliban rebels said on Tuesday negotiations to free the 23 Korean hostages they are holding in Afghanistan were at a crucial stage.

|PIC1|Talks between the Taliban and Afghan tribal elders, who are liaising with the Kabul government and South Korea, went on as a rebel deadline for Seoul to agree to pull its 200 troops out of Afghanistan passed on Tuesday.

No new deadline had been set, a Taliban spokesman said.

The militants, who are also seeking the release of Taliban prisoners, have warned that use of force by government troops surrounding them would put the lives of the 23 Christian hostages -- 18 women and five men -- at risk.

"Our negotiations are still going on," said spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf. "Progress has been made ... we are in a very crucial moment of our talks. Until the negotiations are finished, we can't provide details. We did not extend the deadline again, and have not made the final decision."

The Christian hostages were seized from a bus in Ghazni province on the main highway south from the capital on July 19.

A delegation of Korean diplomats in Afghanistan was helping negotiate with the Taliban with tribal elders mediating.

"We are hopeful that this issue is to be finalised today through talks. By no means will military operations be used," Ghazni governor Mirajuddin Pathan told Reuters.

The kidnappers had conflicting and confusing demands, Pathan said, but they included the withdrawal of Korean troops. Seoul has said its contingent of military engineers and medics will leave Afghanistan as planned at the end of this year.

"Talks have begun with the Koreans," Yousuf said. "We are demanding the release of 30 Taliban prisoners. Korea says it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. That's a good sign."

The Pakistan-based Afghanistan Islamic Press news agency quoted a government negotiator as saying the Taliban had handed over a list of eight prisoners they want released and a longer list was still to come.

Continued abductions by the Taliban risk weakening public support for military involvement among the 37 NATO nations contributing forces to Afghanistan.


RISE IN VIOLENCE

Most of the Koreans are in their 20s and 30s, and include nurses and English teachers. It is the largest abduction of foreigners in the Taliban campaign to oust the Afghan government and eject foreign troops.

The Koreans were seized a day after the Taliban kidnapped two Germans engineers and five Afghans southwest of Kabul.

One of the Germans has died, apparently killed by his captors, while the other and four Afghans are still in captivity. The fifth Afghan managed to escape.

The Taliban are demanding the release of 10 of their imprisoned fighters or the withdrawal of Germany's 3,000 soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan. They have set no deadline for their demands.

Germany has refused to withdraw its troops.

The abductions coincide wi1th a rise in violence in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

In previous kidnappings, the Taliban have killed some of the foreign and Afghan hostages, but have freed others in exchange for ransom or the release of imprisoned comrades.

The Afghan government came under harsh criticism at home and abroad for freeing a group of Taliban in return for the release of an Italian journalist in March.