Indian government negotiators prepared on December 30 to resume talks with armed hijackers who have held more than 150 hostages aboard an Indian Airlines plane for almost a week.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement on Wednesday demanded a swift solution to the stalemate as the hostages, described by the Indian government as safe if not comfortable, bedded down for their sixth night in captivity.

In New York, a United Nations spokesman said a U.N. humanitarian official would return to Kandahar after arranging extra food deliveries from Pakistan for the hostages, as well as the officials, diplomats and journalists caught up in the crisis.

Erik de Mul, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, has also set up tents at the airport, where the plane has been parked since Saturday.