An Imperfect Situation

It turns out that the rumours were true -- a second South Korean hostage has been killed by his Taliban captors. That leaves 21 people still in the hands of the kidnappers.

I really don't know what will, or should, happen next. I doubt that military action is advisable, as hostages, soldiers, and kidnappers would probably end up dead. I doubt that negotiations will succeed -- to use a phrase from negotiation theory, both sides want things that are "non-negotiables" to their opponents.

In a perfect world, the hostages would be released unharmed. But then again, in a perfect world there would be no war in Afghanistan.