"...key leaders of Afghanistan's three largest ethnic minorities told The Wall Street Journal that they oppose Mr. Karzai's outreach to the Taliban, which they said could pave the way for the fundamentalist group's return to power and reignite civil war.

Mohammed Mohaqeq, a lawmaker and former warlord representing the 2.5-million-strong Hazara minority, endorsed Mr. Karzai in last year's presidential race, contributing to his reelection.

'We feel betrayed by the president,' Mr. Mohaqeq says now. 'It seems that what President Karzai pursues now is the Talibanization of Afghanistan. The only difference between him and the Taliban is that he sits in the presidential palace and the Taliban sit in the mountains.'

Mr. Karzai's overtures, formally launched at a June peace conference where he called insurgents 'brothers' and 'dear Talibs,' included asking the United Nations to remove Taliban leaders from the international sanctions black list and ordering the freeing of Taliban suspects from government custody. A separate government-sponsored conference of clerics in Kabul passed a resolution singling out insufficient enforcement of Sharia Islamic laws, the Taliban's key demand, as the obstacle to peace. This month, Mr. Karzai created a formal negotiating committee for talks with Taliban leaders."

Taponier (left) and Ghesquière (AFP).

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the new demands made by a Taliban group that is holding captive two French television journalists, Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier, translator Mohammed Reza, and the group’s driver. They were taken in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, in December.
...In a statement on one of their Web sites, the Taliban said they sent the Afghan government a list of detainees whose release they demanded in exchange for the French prisoners. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan submitted a list of very ordinary prisoners to the French government for release in exchange for the two French citizens and their Afghan colleagues. But the French government showed no interest, consideration or compassion for the release of its citizens. There is no other option.

“If those involved in this issue do not show swiftness and urgency, then the life of the French will face danger,” said the Pashto-language statement, which was widely translated by Afghan and Pakistani news outlets.

France Television, which owns France 3, had been withholding the identities of Ghesquière, 47, and Taponier, 46, explaining that it was doing so to protect their safety. After the release of the video, the France 3 Web site said, the families of the hostages gave permission for the release of names and photographs of the two French journalists.