NU fully ready to negotiate with Taliban

Jakarta, NU Online
The Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) would constantly help the liberation of South Koreans remain held hostage in Afghanistan. The Indonesia's biggest Muslim organization is fully ready to negotiate with Afghanistan's Taliban kidnappers.

"PBNU is now fully taking measures to at least invite one of Afghanistan's Taliban clerics to come to Indonesia for a dialogue about hostage," the General Chairman of the PBNU KH Hasyim Muzadi said here on Sunday.<>

According to Hasyim, in addition to talking about the South Korean hostages, the much-awaited dialogue would also take up religious and international issues within a broader context.

The President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace asserted, though the Taliban kidnappers had yet to free the hostages, there had been such a positive progress around the hostages' liberation.

Hasyim cited, the positive progress could be seen through at least the response of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) dealing with the South Korean hostages.

Hasyim said that he had had information that Taliban was now considering a negotiation with the South Korean government related to the hostage crisis.

"South Korean Muslims have Islamically and nationalistically expressed their readiness to help the hostages' liberation," Hasyim said, adding that the Taliban militants were ready to negotiate with the government.

The caretaker of the Al Hikam Islamic boarding "Pesantren" school of Malang explained that the Afghanistan's Taliban had received a message from the nahdliyin-based organization. That's why the PBNU expected there would be such a win-win solution dealt with the issue. (rif)