The deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean captured in a Taliban controlled area of Afghanistan has been extended until Tuesday night, according to a Taliban spokesman.

Qari Ahmadi, who speaks for the Taliban, said late Monday the Taliban extended the deadline another day after the Afghan government refused to release any of the 23 Taliban prisoners the insurgents want freed.

The extension to execute the hostages is the third by the captors.

Afghan officials in Ghazni province have managed to leave Ghazni city and meet the Taliban and are also negotiating over the phone, but little progress appears to have been made so far.

An Afghan lawmaker said the Taliban had control of the Taliban Highway from Kabul to Kandahar.

The aid workers were kidnapped Thursday in Ghazni district while riding on a bus from Kabul to Kandahar on Afghanistan's major highway.

The Afghan military is afraid to go into the region.

The 100,000 Russian troops who tried to subdue the place for 10 years did not succeed and lost 20,000 dead.