KABUL (AFP) - Afghan officials expressed optimism at winning the release of three foreign UN hostages after a Taliban splinter group claiming to hold them extended Wednesday`s deadline for their execution.
"We are optimistic about securing a release of the UN workers before the deadline ends," interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.
"I can`t confirm talks between the interior ministry and the hostage-takers but I can confirm that progress is being made."
Jaishul Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), the purported kidnappers, earlier pushed back a deadline for their execution from midday (0730 GMT) to Wednesday evening.
"Our leaders decided in a council (meeting) to extend the deadline up to this (Wednesday) evening to give enough time for the ongoing negotiations," Sayed Khaleed, one of at least three men claiming to speak on behalf of Jaishul Muslimeen, told AFP by phone from a secret location.
He did not set an exact time for the new deadline.
Mediators were in touch with Jaishul leaders to negotiate the hostages` release, Khaleed said.
"There are people talking with our leaders. Whether those people are talking on behalf of the UN or the government or both of them, I cannot say," he said.
Afghan authorities have still not confirmed negotiations.
Jaishul Muslimeen, which has distanced itself from the mainstream Taliban led by Mullah Omar, has demanded that the US release all Taliban prisoners and that the 27,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, along with the United Nations, quit the country.
The three hostages -- Annetta Flanigan from northern Ireland, Shqipe Habibi from Serbia`s mainly Muslim province of Kosovo, and Angelito Nayan from the Philippines -- were abducted at gunpoint last Thursday from their vehicle in busy lunchtime traffic in Kabul.
All three had been working on Afghanistan`s first presidential election, held October 9.
The kidnappers told the Afghan Islamic Press, a private Pakistan-based news agency, that they have given the UN a list of Taliban prisoners held in Afghanistan.
"The UN has asked for a list of prisoners and we have prepared a list of at least 25 prisoners who are in different jails in Afghanistan," Jaishul Muslimeen`s commander Akbar Agha told the agency.
Agha Afghan prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay must also be freed.
NATO-led peacekeepers offered to help rescue the hostages or secure their release.
"ISAF stands by the Afghanistan government, the United Nations and the international community in condemning this action, and is ready to support the Afghan authorities in their efforts to secure the release of the hostages," Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Poulain of the International Security Assistance Force told a news briefing.
Around 9,000 peacekeepers from some 30 countries are patrolling mainly in Kabul as part of ISAF.
The 18,000-strong US-led coalition, which has been in Afghanistan since late 2001 hunting, capturing and killing suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, said it has been monitoring the abduction crisis.
"The coalition continues to monitor the situation involving the abductions of three United Nations workers last Thursday," coalition spokesman US Major Scott Nelson told a news briefing.
"This incident is very sensitive right now. The United Nations, the government of Afghanistan, the coalition and ISAF are working to gather to come to a peaceful resolution on this," Nelson said but declined to give details.
"Our goal here is to bring the safe return of the hostages back to the United Nations."
11/03/2004 - 14:28 GMT - AFP