A helicopter that was forced into an emergency landing ended in 11 foreign engineers being kidnapped by the Taliban according to officials in the region.
A storm forced the helicopter to land in the Azra District, a mountainous region under almost absolute Taliban control.
“The incoming and outgoing roads from the district to surrounding provinces are entirely under Taliban control,” local official Abdul Wali told the New York Times. “No government people can travel on those roads.”
The Taliban is currently in discussions to restart peace talks with American or Afghanistan officials and the hostages could be bargaining chips for the Islamic terrorist group.
Local Afghani officials are concerned that the hostages have already been taken over the border into Pakistan where there are multiple international Islamic terror groups.
The majority of the kidnapped are Turkish citizens putting Turkey in an unusual situation. The country had been working as the nation providing crisis diplomacy in the region but now is in need of a mediator. The government has reached out to local government officials but nothing has been arranged for negotiations.
The hope among officials is that the open Muslim faith of Turkey will change how the Taliban negotiates with them.