The ousted Afghan Taliban militia is demanding the release of 50 imprisoned militants in return for two Indian engineers they are holding hostage, a rebel commander said on Saturday.Commander Mullah Rehmatullah told Reuters that the hardline Islamic movement would also make additional demands but declined to elaborate.A government spokesman in the southern province of Zabul, where the two engineers were kidnapped earlier this month while working on a major highway reconstruction project, said authorities there had received a letter outlining the demands.Copies of the letter have also been sent to senior government officials and the company that employed the Indians, according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency. Officials in Zabul also said they received letters from the Indians saying they were being treated well.‘‘There aren’t any important (Taliban) member on the list of people they want released,’’ Haji Baz Mohammad, an official in the Shah Joy district of Zabul, told AIP.The Taliban is trying to regroup and fight a guerrilla-style insurgency against American forces and the US-backed government of interim President Hamid Karzai. Frequent attacks in the south and east have forced the suspension of vital assistance work, and triggered calls for a larger international peacekeeping force than the 5,700 soldiers currently operating in the relative safety of Kabul.The Indians are employed by BSC-C&C JV, a joint venture contracted by Louis Berger Group Inc, the US firm leading the reconstruction of the highway. It was completed on Tuesday.
