For strategic reasons only. From CBS (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
(CBS/AP) A high-ranking Taliban commander in Afghanistan with direct involvement in the capture and captivity of a group of South Koreans has told CBS News, “we might stop killing hostages, because our strategy may be changing.”
The Afghan government is “under extreme pressure, and they are embarrassed, so we want to keep them in this situation and sustain this crisis for a while,” the militant said in a phone interview.
He did not say exactly how the group planned to draw-out the situation, but he did say the killing “might stop,” if only temporarily. The commander spoke to CBS News on condition that he not be named.
Mullah Sabir Nasir, the senior Taliban commander in Ghazni province, where the South Koreans were abducted more than two weeks ago, told CBS News that two hostages were killed due to the Afghan government “cheating us” in negotiations for their release.
Nasir, who holds one of about 30 seats on the Taliban’s “supreme council” of leaders, said government negotiators had repeatedly gone back on promises to release Taliban prisoners in exchange for the hostages’ “” 21 of whom are still said to be alive.
He expressed frustration at apparently not being able to negotiate directly with South Korean officials, suggesting the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai was blocking any such discussion.
“The Afghan government just wants to make us angry, and push us to kill all the hostages at once to bring an end to the crisis,” Nasir told CBS News.
No sense of humanitarian concern whatsoever.