Mullah Qari Bashir said that face-to-face negotiations with four Korean officials that began Friday were going well and that the Taliban were sticking with their original demand
- that 21 Taliban prisoners be released from prisons in Afghanistan.
"God willing the government (of Afghanistan) and the government of Korea will accept this," Bashir said outside the Afghan Red Cross office in Ghazni. "Definitely these people will be released. God willing our friends (Taliban militants in prison) will be released."
Asked when the Koreans might be freed, he said: "Hopefully today or tomorrow."
"I'm very optimistic. The negotiations are continuing on a positive track," Bashir said.
The Afghan government has said previously that it would not release the prisoners out of fear it would encourage future kidnappings, and South Korea took a cautious approach to the negotiations.
"A quick release is a good thing but we don't see that the possibility of the quick release is high," a South Korean official in Seoul told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Separately, Taliban militants attacked a small U.S. base in southern Afghanistan early Saturday for the second time in a week, and the U.S.-led coalition said the insurgents could be probing for intelligence for a future attempt to overrun the outpost.
Four militants were killed during the attack on Firebase Anaconda, the coalition said. The fighters' actions "could possibly be a rehearsal for a much bigger attack, possibly an attempt to completely overrun the post," the coalition said.
"The insurgents are paying a high price to test our response to attacks on our bases," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman. "Though direct attacks are an unorthodox method for Taliban fighters, we remain prepared to fight them in any way they choose, though we find they are regularly unprepared for our methods of combat."
A group of 75 Taliban attacked Anaconda on Tuesday from three sides, a rare frontal assault that left 23 militants dead. Taliban militants usually shun head-on fights, preferring instead to attack foreign forces with suicide blasts and roadside bombs.
Four South Korean officials and two top Taliban leaders met in person Saturday for a second round of talks over the fate of the 21 members of a church group held hostage for three weeks.
The six officials met for four hours Friday evening in their first face-to-face talks. The South Korean president's office confirmed the meeting but declined to give details, citing the safety of the captives.
