The Voice Of America (VOA) network quoted a top Taliban spokesman as saying his group would consider "a one-for-one swap for pro-Taliban female prisoners held by US forces in Afghanistan."
However speaking in Washington Monday, August 6, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ruled out any deals to help free the 21 South Korean hostages. Yet, Afghan officials told VOA they were working with South Korea to help set up "face-to-face negotiations with the Taliban." It was unclear to what extend Karzai was involved in these efforts.
Taliban forces kidnapped the 23 South Korean church volunteers from a bus in Ghazni province on July 19 and soon started killing hostages. Pastor Bae Hyung Kyu of the Sammul Presbyterian Church was murdered on his birthday, July 25, while another male member of the team, Shim Sung Min, was killed by his captors on Monday, July 30.
Of the remaining 21 hostages, 18 are women, church sources said.
MILITARY INTERVENTION?
Provincial governor Merajuddin Pattan told reporters that talk of a possible military intervention is premature. "We still haven’t made the decision yet to have a military action there but the Koreans are requesting that we should wait until their face-to-face negotiations bear fruit," Pattan said.
In South Korea relatives of the victims have reportedly condemned Washington for not doing more to help free the hostages. The US-based Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), a major think-tank, also blamed Western media and American Christians for not doing enough to highlight the plight of the South Korean hostages.
"Why is it that the media finds the brief incarceration of [celebrity] Paris Hilton worthy of ’round the clock vigils, but spares little ink and little air time to tell the world more about these two men who gave their lives while serving the people of Afghanistan?" said IRD’s Director of Religious Liberty Programs Faith McDonnell.
"Even more disturbing than lack of media coverage though, is the tepid response of the churches to the plight of their brothers and sisters from South Korea…No matter what issues currently occupy Christians in the US, they should shift their focus to Afghanistan right now and join the churches in South Korea in vigilant prayer for the remaining hostages," she added in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife.
WORLDWIDE BODY
"This was an opportunity to witness to the world that the Body of Christ is one worldwide Body," McDonnell said, adding that Christians should "pray daily for the South Koreans, and include them as a prayer item on church web sites, e-mail conferences, and blog sites of individuals."
Governor Pattan said he believes members of Islamabad’s powerful intelligence agency known as the ISI are behind the crisis. "There is no doubt," he said. "There is no doubt…guys in the room when we were speaking with them on the phone they were translating the words in Urdu…"
Those unconfirmed accusations could seriously damage efforts to end a growing diplomatic rift between the South Asian neighbors, VOA commented. Pakistan and Afghanistan are both key US allies and were expected to discuss cross-border security issues in a landmark assembly or grand jirga in Kabul later this week.
Pakistan was a major backer of the Taliban until September 2001, when it allegedly cut ties with the militant movement and agreed to support the US-led war against terror. Christian groups elsewhere in Asia have expressed concern about the situation. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said it was important that the international community, including the United Nations "put pressure on Pakistan and should not hesitate with diplomatic and military options to release the hostages."
ANGRY REACTIONS
Critics have condemned the hostages as missionaries, who put themselves unnecessarily at risk in one of the world’s hotbeds of Islamic militancy and extremism.
Yet, South Korean Christians travelling to the region have defended these kinds of trips, saying all people, including Muslims in Afghanistan, have the right to learn about the love of Jesus Christ who they believe rose up from death so everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
South Korea is second only to the United States in the number of Christian missionaries it sends abroad, with an estimated 12,000 engaged in projects in about 160 countries, according to estimates. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and BosNewsLife Research).
