Kidnapping Works

The Taliban says it's going to free the remaining 19 South Korean hostages its been holding in Afghanistan for more than a month. They were among 23 Christian missionaries initially taken hostage; two have already been freed, while two others were murdered by the Taliban. The deal with South Korea appears to involve some kind of ransom, as well as confirmation from Seoul that it'll pull out its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year (as was planned anyway), plus an agreement to prevent any more Koreans going to the country.

We hardly needed reminding of the growing strength and confidence of the Taliban, but this saga has done exactly that. Once again the Taliban has acted with total impunity, and it seems neither the international forces nor the Afghan government is in a position to stop them. Many more incidents like this, and the already shaky support (among certain countries) for the mission in Afghanistan will start to melt away completely.