The families of the 21 South Korean missionaries held captive by the Taleban in Afghanistan have attacked President Bush and President Karzai for failing to negotiate an end to the hostage ordeal.

With the crisis soon to enter its 21st day, the lives of the missionaries hang in the balance. Two of the original party, including its leader, have already been shot dead and their bodies tossed into the streets. The captors have repeatedly threatened the remaining hostages with a similar fate if their demands are not met.

The families’ fury follows a summit meeting over the weekend between Mr Bush and his Afghan counterpart in which the two leaders agreed that the hostage crisis would not be resolved via concessions to the Taleban captors.

Both refuse to yield to the demand that the lives of the missionaries, mostly young women who travelled to Afghanistan as aid workers, be exchanged for Taleban insurgents in jail in Kabul.

Many of the family members broke down in tears as they learnt what had been said at the US-Afghan talks.

“We could not sleep at night due to our expectations, as the release and safe return of our families depended on the two leaders’ summit,” a joint statement from the families said.

“But the summit, which failed to concretely touch on the families detained in Afghanistan, made insufficient effort to actively save precious lives.”

The families, crushed by what they see as the failure of the weekend’s negotiations, have now set their sights on Korean Liberation Day on August 15, and are begging their own government to help to negotiate a settlement before then.

As evidence grows that many of the hostages are now in extremely poor health, yesterday’s statement explicitly calls on President Bush and President Karzai to understand what drove the missionaries to make their dangerous trip to Afghanistan in the first place.

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