Taliban win praise for role in ending hijacking crisis

Afghans have been largely isolated from the international community

January 3, 2000
Web posted at: 10:41 PM HKT (1441 GMT)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Some Afghans are hoping a new international image of the country's ruling Taliban will emerge after their efforts to secure the release of more than 150 hostages held for eight days aboard an Indian Airlines jet.

"We are hoping that those people who don't think good of the Taliban ... change their opinions, that they will accept that the Taliban are good people," shopkeeper Abdul Ghafer told CNN.

Taliban officials, who eased some of their strict edicts during the hijacking, including allowing media to interview Afghan citizens, were praised by the United Nations for their role in helping the standoff end peacefully.

During the hijacking, Taliban leaders threatened more than once to storm the jet when the six hijackers said they would kill their captives if India didn't agree to their demands to release several jailed Kashmiri rebels.

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CNN's Nic Robertson is allowed to talk with the people of Afghanistan on camera for the first time in five years. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

The hijackers also dropped two demands -- that they be paid $200 million in ransom and that the body of a Kashmiri militant be exhumed and returned to them -- after Taliban officials said the demands went against Islamic teachings.

The hijackers released the hostages Friday after India freed three jailed Kashmiri rebels. The hijackers left the airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan, with the rebels and were in hiding Sunday. The hostages were returned to India.

The hijackers seized the jet on December 24 about 40 minutes after it left Nepal for New Delhi. The jet stopped in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Kandahar December 25.