They have allowed one of the hostages to make a plea for help
through an Afgan journalist
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/26/wtaliban226.xml
The article also points out why it's always a bad idea to give in
to kidnapping demands.
It emerged last night that a senior leader of the Taliban has
ordered more foreign abductions after he was released by the Afghan
government in exchange for an Italian journalist in March.
Mansour Dadullah, the commander of the Taliban in southern
Afghanistan, told Channel 4 News that his release "was a bit of a
surprise" but had proved that kidnapping was "a very successful
policy".
"I order all my mujahideen to kidnap foreigners of any nationality
wherever they find them and then we should do the same kind of
deal," he said.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said the exchange had been a
mistake. "It was an agreement between the Afghans and the Italian
Government," he said. "We should never do it again."