Taliban Ban on Raid Set to Extend Hijack Agony

The 155 passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan had better cancel their New Year's plans. That assessment after the country's ruling Taliban militia on Thursday eliminated what may have been India's strongest negotiating tool — the threat of force. The Taliban has also warned that if the Indian government and the hijackers haven't managed to negotiate an end to the dispute by Saturday, the plane will be forced to leave Afghanistan. "The Taliban's ruling council has decreed that no foreign military personnel will be allowed onto Afghan soil, and that rules out a commando raid to take out the hijackers," says TIME New Delhi correspondent Maseeh Rahman. "That may build up domestic pressure in India to release the Maulana in order to save the hostages." The hijackers have reduced their demands to one: The release of 36 Kashmiri separatist militants from Indian prisons, most notably the Pakistani cleric Maulana Masood Azhar.

Although many anti-India Kashmiri fighters are trained in camps in Afghanistan and the Indian government supports the anti-Taliban opposition, the Afghans' conduct during the hijacking had earned praise from New Delhi. "The Taliban's refusal to allow a commando raid on the plane raises the question of whether they’re playing a double game," says Rahman. "After all, there's no reason for the hijackers to back down on their demands if there’s no fear of an imminent attack. Right now, the hijackers are fairly comfortable." That may change, of course, if the Taliban forces the plane to leave. That's if.