SLOVENIA: TALIBAN PRISONER EXCHANGE REVEALS NEED

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000187 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2017 TAGS: PREF PTER SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: TALIBAN PRISONER EXCHANGE REVEALS NEED FOR COMMON APPROACHES IN HOSTAGE CASES REF: SECSTATE 36204 Classified By: DCM Maryruth Coleman for reasons 1.4 (B & D). ¶1. (C) DCM presented reftel demarche March 26 to Ambassador Roman Kirn, Director of the Division for the Americas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kirn concurred that the release of Taliban prisoners set a bad precedent and could encourage further hostage-taking and undermine the coalition's security situation in Afghanistan. He remarked that the Italian deal with the Government of Afghanistan has garnered considerable attention and is prompting new thinking. Nevertheless, he characterized the case as sensitive and very difficult -- a question of balancing principle against the destiny of individuals taken hostage. He noted that in such a situation, any government confronts a "national preoccupation" to secure the freedom of its citizens. Kirn predicted that the Taliban prisoner case will be discussed soon in the EU context in an effort to increase "common understanding" of how future cases of hostage-taking should be handled. ROBERTSON