Ishaq Manzur, claiming to speak on behalf of Jami'at Jaish-e Mujahedin (Society of Mujahedin Army), told AP on 28 October that the kidnapped workers were transferred to a "safe place," adding that the group was "checking their identities and we will demand that if their countries have forces in Afghanistan they should withdraw them."

Information about the breakaway faction of the neo-Taliban called Taliban Jami'at Jaish-e Muslemin (Muslim Army of the Taliban Society), which is led by Mullah Sayyed Mohammad Akbar Agha, emerged in August (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 12 August 2004). Another group, using the Arabic name Jaysh al-Muslimin al-Afghani (Afghan Army of the Muslims), in September claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination of Afghan Transitional Administration Deputy Chairman Ne'amatullah Shahrani in northern Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 24 September 2004).

Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, told the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) on 28 October that while his group had no information regarding the kidnapping in Kabul, it admired the action. When asked by AIP what the neo-Taliban would have done had they kidnapped the workers, Hakimi said that possibly they "would have demanded that their supporters be released from [the U.S. detention center in] Guantanamo [Bay, Cuba]...and would possibly have killed them [the hostages] once their demands had not been met."

In another twist, Abdul Latif Hakimi, also claiming to speak for the neo-Taliban, told AFP on 28 October that he doubted that Jaysh al-Muslimin was responsible for the kidnapping "because they are a very limited number of people and they don't have access to Kabul to carry out operations."

Further complicating the links between Jaysh al-Muslimin and the neo-Taliban and intra-neo-Taliban relations, Hamid Agha, also purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, told Reuters on 31 October that the group was not involved in the abduction of the UN employees. "We have no comments about the issue. It is their [Jaysh al-Muslimin's] work and we are not involved in it," Hamid Agha claimed.

Commenting in August about Akbar Agha's group, Hamid Agha had indicated that the organization was not "the Taliban" as all "Taliban commanders are united under the leadership" of Mullah Mohammad Omar (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 12 August 2004). Confirming Hamid Agha's views, Abdullah Laghmani, the intelligence chief in the southern city of Kandahar told AFP on 28 October that there is a split in the ranks of the Taliban, "one is the group of Mullah Omar and one group is the group of Sayyed Akbar Agha, the chief of Jaysh al-Muslimin." According to Laghmani, Akbar Agha's men have been operating in southern Afghanistan in cells of two or three individuals, a statement that corresponds to Abdul Latif Hakimi's views regarding the Jaysh al-Muslimin composition and areas of operations.

On 31 October Mullah Mohammad Ishaq -- most likely the same individual as Ishaq Manzur -- claiming to speak for Jaysh al-Muslimin, told AFP, "Our demand is [that] the invader countries that these people belong to should withdraw their troops from Afghanistan and rethink their policies towards Afghanistan." Otherwise, "we will kill the hostages," he added. When Mohammad Ishaq was informed that neither Serbia and Montenegro nor the Philippines had any troops in Afghanistan, he said that those "countries should condemn the invasion [of Afghanistan] by other countries." The same day, a video released by Al-Jazeera television showed the three UN employees kidnapped in Kabul. According to Al-Jazeera, the kidnappers have demanded that the United Kingdom pull its forces out of Afghanistan, that all of the Afghan detainees in U.S. custody be released from Guantanamo Bay, and that the UN should leave Afghanistan and it should declare "Britain and American's meddling in Afghanistan illegal."

The issue regarding suspected Taliban prisoners in U.S. custody was made by Latifullah Hakimi on 28 October when he had said that if the neo-Taliban had been involved in the kidnapping, they would have asked for the release of their supporters. The fact that Jaysh al-Muslimin eventually included the release of the Taliban prisoners in its list of demands may indicate a link between Jaysh al-Muslimin and some members of the neo-Taliban. Another possibility is that Jaysh al-Muslimin was not sure what to demand for the hostages and was inspired by Latifullah Hakimi's comments.


Shifting Deadline

Akbar Agha initially said that the deadline for his group to make its final decision on the fate the hostages was 3 November. But Saber Mo'min, identified as a Jaysh al-Muslimin military commander, rejected reports that the group set a deadline of 3 November. "We have set...next Friday [5 November] as the final deadline for our demands to be met. If our demands are not met by then we will kill these three people," AIP quoted him as saying on 1 November. However Mo'min qualified the deadline by adding, "If the Americans for the Afghan government start talking to us then the deadline set by us could be extended."

Mo'min also told AIP on 1 November that Jaysh al-Muslimin has formed a four-man delegation to negotiate the fate of the hostages. "If the Americans for the [Afghan] government want our delegation [to contact them]" the delegation "can go anywhere for talks," he added. The same day, Ishaq Manzur told AP that the group had separated the three hostages to thwart any potential rescue attempt, threatening that if a rescue attempt is made to release one of the hostages, the other two will be killed in reaction.

On 2 November Mullah Ishaq Manzur reconfirmed 3 November as the group's deadline for killing their hostages if its demands are not met. Jaysh al-Muslimin's leader, Akbar Agha, on 3 November told AIP that the deadline remained 3 November, confirming Manzur's warning. Neither Akbar Agha nor Manzur commented on Mo'min's claim that the deadline was 5 November. Akbar Agha said that his group does "not regard the hostages as UN workers but the citizens of their respective countries." Adding, "Britain has committed aggression in our country and one of the hostages is a citizen of that country, which we regard as an aggressor. Our final deadline is midnight tonight [3 November] and there will not be any change to it," Akbar Agha told AIP. According to Akbar Agha the group has received a call from unspecified "authorities," AP reported on 3 November. "We want the Afghan government and the UN to officially declare that they are in contact with us," Akbar Agha demanded.

The current incident is Afghanistan's first case of an Iraq-style kidnapping of foreign hostages that includes displaying the hostages on video. In light of recent reports that some former members of the Taliban regime may be seeking reconciliation with Kabul, it is very likely that the incident may be an outcome of struggles within the fragmented groups formerly belonging to the Taliban regime. Alternatively, the initial uncertainty about the demands made by Jaysh al-Muslimin for freeing their hostages and their ever-shifting deadline indicates that the group may not be politically motivated and have taken the hostages in hope of receiving a ransom.