Afghan UAE embassy says Taleban guards going home .
Hilary Gush
DUBAI 1996-08-22
Three Afghan guards brought to the United Arab Emirates last week by Russian hostages who escaped from the Taleban militia will return to Afghanistan in a few days , the Afghan embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Thursday .
" Our ambassador is in touch with the UAE foreign ministry .
Their return to Afghanistan will take place in two or three days , " an embassy official said .
" The embassy is issuing them travel documents for their return to their homeland .
There is no objection to their travel , " he added .
The three Islamic Taleban guards were overpowered by seven Russian aircrew who escaped to UAE state Sharjah last Friday on board their own aircraft after a year in the captivity of Taleban militia in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan .
The UAE said on Monday it would hand over the three to the International Red Crescent , possibly last Tuesday .
It has since been silent on the issue .
When asked whether the three guards would travel back to Kandahar or the Afghan capital Kabul , the embassy official said : " That has not been decided , but possibly Kandahar . "
Kandahar is the headquarters of the opposition Taleban militia .
Kabul is controlled by President Burhanuddin Rabbani 's government , which Taleban is fighting to overthrow .
The embassy official said the three men , believed to be in their 20s , were currently in Abu Dhabi .
He did not elaborate .
The Russians , working for the Aerostan firm in the Russian republic of Tatarstan , were taken hostage after a Taleban MiG-19 fighter forced their cargo plane to land in August 1995 .
Taleban said its shipment of ammunition from Albania was evidence of Russian military support for Rabbani 's government .
Moscow said the crew 's nationality was coincidental .
Numerous diplomatic attempts to free the seven failed .
The Russians , who said they overpowered the guards -- two armed with Kalashnikov automatic rifles -- while doing regular maintenance work on their Ilyushin 76 cargo plane last Friday , left the UAE capital Abu Dhabi for home on Sunday .