Taliban say 'mistakenly' kidnap six journalists in eastern Afghanistan

Local Afghan officials said on Saturday that the reporters were abducted the previous day while they were traveling together from neighboring Paktika province to Paktia to attend a media workshop.

“We are trying to negotiate their release with the Taliban,” media outlets quoted Abdullah Hasrat, a spokesman for Paktia’s governor, as saying.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the six journalists were “mistakenly” kidnapped by their militant group, adding that they will be released soon.

“Yes, our mujahideens (fighters) have mistakenly kidnapped them,” media outlets quoted Mujahid as saying.

“Right now mobile services are not working, but they will be released as soon as we establish contact with the local commander,” he said.

The journalists were reportedly working for radio and TV news companies that broadcast news in the Pashto and Dari languages.

Last month, a magnetic explosive device attached to bus carrying media workers in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed at least two people and injured four others.

In June, the Taliban, which control vast part of the country, said local Afghan media would be targeted if they continued covering anti-Taliban announcements made by the Kabul government.

In 2016, a Taliban bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying employees of Tolo TV, the country’s largest private broadcaster, killing seven journalists.

Afghanistan was the deadliest country in the world to be a journalist in 2018. While the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported 13 deaths, the International Federation of Journalists said 16 journalists were killed last year.

US identifies soldier killed in Kabul car bombing

In a separate development, the Pentagon says it has identified the US soldier who was killed Thursday by a car bombing in Kabul.

The Defense Department said in a statement late Friday that Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico, was killed in action when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

He was assigned to the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Ortiz was the fourth US soldiers killed in the past two weeks in the war-ravaged country.

On Thursday, at least 10 people were killed, including a US and a Romanian soldier, and dozens more injured when a car bomb struck a checkpoint in Kabul in an area that houses embassies, government buildings, and local NATO headquarters.

There has been no let-up in violence in the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan, even though the US and the Taliban are said to be in an intense final phase of efforts toward a peace deal to end the conflict.

A consistent pattern of increased attacks by the Taliban has emerged in recent weeks. The so-called "peace" talks have apparently fueled more violence as the Taliban use military force to maintain their negotiating position.

Kabul welcomes US assurances on Taliban deal

Meanwhile, the Afghan government on Saturday welcomed a pledge by the Pentagon that the US would only accept a "good deal" from the Taliban

During a wide-ranging press conference in Paris earlier on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper sought to allay fears as Washington inches closer to a potential deal with the Taliban.

"My view, the US view is that the best way forward is a political agreement and that's what we're working diligently on right now," Esper told reporters.

"That doesn't mean we'll take any deal, but we want to make sure we have a good deal, a good enough deal that guarantees at least the security of our countries going forward and a brighter future for the Afghan people."

The remarks were greeted in Afghanistan, where the Taliban in the past week have attacked several provincial capitals and targeted Kabul with bombers.

"The Afghan Government welcomes the latest remarks made by the Pentagon Chief on AFG peace process," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s main spokesman Sediq Sediqqi wrote on Twitter.

"We echo the need for sustainable peace, end of violence and a meaningful peace that would guarantee the security of Afghanistan and its allies."

Sediqqi earlier said that Kabul had serious doubts about a draft peace agreement recently reached between US and Taliban negotiators and wants further clarification. 

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001. While the invasion ended the Taliban’s rule in the country, it has failed to eliminate the militant group.

American forces have since remained bogged down in Afghanistan through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now, Donald Trump.