Any French here?

[chastized]

Taliban Demand French Pullout For Hostages

April 21, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Taliban guerrillas are demanding that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the freedom of two French hostages.

In a purported Taliban statement on the Internet on April 20, the Islamist militants also demanded that the Afghan government release some Taliban prisoners.

Taliban militants say they abducted a French man and woman, as well as three Afghans from the aid group Terre d'Enfance. The five disappeared on April 3, in Afghanistan's southwestern Nimroz Province.

Video Of Hostages

On April 14, the Taliban released a video of the two French aid workers -- a woman who identified herself only as Celine and a man who called himself Eric -- pleading for help.

"My name is Celine. I am French. I am working for a French NGO called TDE -- Terre d'Enfance," the woman said on the video. "I have been kidnapped and I am now in the hands of the Taliban with Eric, Hashim, Hazrat, and Rasul."

The Taliban statement said that if the demands were not met, "a prompt action will be taken" against the hostages.

The authenticity of the Taliban statement could not be independently verified. But it was posted on websites often used by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other insurgent groups.

The French Foreign Ministry said only that it was "analyzing" the Taliban's demand, but made no further comment. France has about 1,100 troops working as part of the 36,000-strong, NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

Bargaining With Kidnappers

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in March he would make no more prisoner swaps after what many saw as a botched exchange of Taliban prisoners for kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

Mastrogiacomo was kidnapped in March. He was freed after two weeks when Kabul released five senior Taliban prisoners. His Afghan driver and translator were beheaded. Critics said the Mastrogiacomo case encouraged the Taliban to take more hostages.

The new Taliban demands came as the group pledged to launch fresh attacks.

Reuters quoted a Taliban commander, Mullah Hayatullah Kahn, as saying that the group's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has urged his followers to step up attacks on foreign and Afghan troops.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusof Ahmadi, as saying that militants plan to launch fresh attacks in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north.



Copyright (c) 2007. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

Or are they going to wind up like this, http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vi...y-vert-vid-top

What do you all think is going to happen?
And what is this? TDE -- Terre d'Enfance

[Blaise]

Just a Bohemian roaming the everlasting deserts, plains and mountains of the American southwest carrying a big "cowboy gun"
Hey, wait a minute I have to look....yeah it's a 38.special Blackhawk. It shoots pretty damn good, pardner.

You have to carry around here with all the coyotes,drug dealers , illegals and a border patrol which does nothing to protect Americans or Bohemians or French or anybody who lives here.

You see Alberto Gonzales, the "Numero Uno", punishes the Law enforcement officers and rewards Mexican drug dealer....and frankly, I can care less what the Taliban does to the French in Afghanistan.
They are just a bunch of sissies.
Without the foreign legion they would be just nation of artists on welfare.

What I want is the Americans to get their asses out of the ratholes mentioned above and clean up their own backyard.
There is plenty of work over here. Viva La Migra
H.
http://www.fobp.us/

Good grief! I am having trouble discerning exactly what you mean in all that invective!

[kristoff]

Good grief! I am having trouble discerning exactly what you mean in all that invective!

Actually, I do understand it. And I haven't had any coffee since 0700, and plenty of Canadian Communion "Wine."

[Blaise]

Actually, I do understand it. And I haven't had any coffee since 0700, and plenty of Canadian Communion "Wine."

I have ever been slow.

[A-1]

The French and the Taliban DESERVE each other...

...a match made in PURGATORY, and it is almost PERFECT.

you see, if "W" had nuked the Taliban in Afghanistan 0n 9-12-2001, then they would not be alive to kidnamp French aid workers.