Pakistan seeks return of helicopter crash hostages from Afghan Taliban

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Pakistan's executive said on Friday his administration is utilizing "formal and casual channels" to look for the arrival of seven travelers of a slammed helicopter Pakistani helicopter who were caught by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A Taliban administrator guaranteed the seven were "in safe hands" with the extremists.

The Pakistani government helicopter, on the way to Russia for a normal upgrade, crash-arrived in the Taliban-held Logar area in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.

"Formal and casual channels are being utilized to guarantee safe recuperation of the whole group," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in an announcement from his office.

Logar region has been progressively rebellious since the dispatch two years prior of a military operation in neighboring Pakistani tribal zones pushed numerous Taliban and associated warriors into Afghanistan.

On Friday, a senior Afghan Taliban leader, talking on state of namelessness, affirmed that the travelers - six Pakistanis and a Russian professional - were in their care and that arrangements for their discharge were continuous.

"They are being taken care of, being given tea, nourishment, everything," he said. "We are in contact with the Pakistani authorities. We passed on to them that they are in safe hands."

He included that it was no utilization looking for assistance from the Afghan government or U.S. military, on the grounds that the Taliban are in full control of the region.

The Pakistani government and military did not straightforwardly affirm direct chats with the Taliban, but rather authorities said they were doing everything conceivable.

"Endeavors are in top apparatus for early recuperation of the group and pilots of the chopper... Petitions for my dear companions safe return," tweeted Shahbaz Sharif, the head administrator's sibling and boss priest of the Punjab common government that works the helicopter.

The airplane had authorization to fly over Afghan air space on its approach to Uzbekistan assist north, said Nafees Zakaria, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry representative, on Thursday.

Pakistan's armed force boss had beforehand reached top U.S. leader in Afghanistan General John Nicholson requesting his global military coalition's assistance in recouping the men, Bajwa said on Thursday.