KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan's Taliban vowed Tuesday to continue abducting foreign nationals, saying the kidnapping of 23 South Koreans showed the tactic was an effective tool against the government.
Kabul meanwhile acknowledged the threat and said all foreign nationals should register with police and inform authorities of their movements.
"We found this a very effective tactic against the Kabul administration and the invading forces," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP, referring to the international military forces here.
"We'll continue kidnapping foreigners," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The Taliban released 19 of the South Koreans last week after holding them for six weeks. It killed two in July and set free two others in mid-August, when it began direct talks with the South Korean government.
"Through the kidnapping of the Koreans we gained worldwide media coverage," Ahmadi said.
"The Kabul administration was saying that we do not exist and we are a group based outside Afghanistan. When we held face-to-face talks with the Koreans, we showed that we're here and have control over ground inside the country."
Seoul has been criticised for making a deal with the extremists and the Afghan government has said it only allowed the negotiations to save the lives of the Christian aid workers.
Asked about the increased risks for foreign nationals in Afghanistan, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai told reporters Tuesday that "a terrorist organisation will resort to such things."
People should be cautious, limit their movements and register with police, Homayun Hamidzada said.
The Taliban, toppled in late 2001 in a US-led invasion, are waging an insurgency which has intensified in the past two years.
They have abducted several foreign nationals, releasing some for ransom or, in one case, in exchange for Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails.
The rebels are still holding a German engineer, captured July 18, and four of his Afghan colleagues.
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