Monday, September 22, 2008

Taliban Kidnap 140 Afghan Laborers In Western Afghanistan


This is a very brief article from Reuters here that I will excerpt below in its entirety but it is a signal to western Afghanistan that the Taliban is on the rise in all of Afghanistan:


Taliban kidnap over 140 Afghan laborers: governor

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents have abducted more than 140 laborers from a construction firm in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, the provincial governor said on Monday.
The laborers were civilians and were involved in building an army base in the province where the Taliban and criminal gangs are active.
They were seized by militants on Sunday while traveling in three buses on a road in Bala Boluk district of Farah, Rohul Amin told Reuters.

Day in and day out I post here at Holger Awakens about Taliban attacks, bombings, kidnappings and suicide attacks but over 80% of those happen generally in the southern provinces and eastern provinces. This is the western province of Farah, which is not unknown to Taliban violence, but is certainly much more calm usually than the other areas of violence.

My guess is that there will be some significant ransom demands for these workers and my guess is that President Karzai will authorize those demands (he doesn't exactly buy into the idea of not negotiating with terrorists/kidnappers) and since the Taliban are never shy about asking for money, it probably will revolve around the release of some prisoners and a whole boat load of cash.

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