"We deny any payment for the release of South Korean hostages," an official at South Korea's presidential Blue House said. But the Taliban disagreed. "We got more than $20m from them [the Seoul government]," a commander, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters. "With it we will purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles for carrying out more suicide attacks. The money will also address to some extent the financial difficulties we have had." The commander is on the 10-man leadership council of the Islamist Taliban movement, which is led by the elusive Mullah Mohammed Omar. He rejected an Afghan government claim that a senior Taliban leader, Mullah Brother, was killed in a US-led operation on Thursday in the southern province of Helmand. "This report is just propaganda," he said.
| "As a matter of fact, he's meeting me at the Kandahar CarMax tomorrow morning. We gots some shopping to do!" |