Taliban leaders and South Korean officials were continuing negotiations by telephone over the fate of the remaining 19 hostages yesterday, but no new face-to-face talks had been planned, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

Two South Korean women kidnapped by the Taliban in mid-July were freed on Monday on a desert road outside Ghazni into Red Cross custody, the first significant breakthrough in the hostage drama. Two male South Korean captives were executed by gunfire in late July.

The South Korean Embassy said the two women were transferred from the US base at Ghazni to a safe place in "our care," and that they were in good condition, awaiting a flight home "very soon."