ROME, March 8 (UPI) -- Italy said it is ready to negotiate with the Taliban for the release of a kidnapped reporter but first wants proof he's alive.
La Repubblica's Daniele Mastrogiacomo disappeared Monday on a trip to interview Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan.
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A Taliban spokesman claimed that Mastrogiacomo confessed to being a spy and was being tried by a Taliban council, ANSA reported.
The head of the ministry's Crisis Unit, Elisabetta Bertoni, discounted a prisoner exchange because Italy had no Taliban prisoners.
