Michelle Malkin » Taliban hostage deadline looms: South Korean Christians face death Update: Korean negotiators meet kidnappers; Taliban wants money

Taliban hostage deadline looms: South Korean Christians face death Update: Korean negotiators meet kidnappers; Taliban wants money

By Michelle Malkin • July 24, 2007 04:35 PM

Bumped…originally posted July 24, 2007 @ 08:21am

Update 2:45pm Eastern. The “final stage”…Now they want money. Meanwhile, still very little American coverage of the ongoing crisis. Maybe if the kidnapped South Korean Christian missionaries were journalists or drunken celebrities, the story would get some attention.

Update 2:15pm Eastern. “Negotiations” continue, Afghan villagers protest Taliban: CBS News reports…Afghan elders and clerics were trying to negotiate with militants holding 23 South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan a day after a purported Taliban spokesman said the hard-line militia had extended its deadline for their lives until Tuesday evening. The South Korean Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said it asked the Afghan military to refrain from conducting operations near the location where the hostages were believed to be held out of concern the kidnappers could be provoked. Villagers in Ghazni Province held a rally demanding that the hostages be released, said Mohammad Zaman, the deputy provincial police chief. Some carried banners and shouted slogans calling for the Koreans to be freed, he said. An AP Television News reporter saw 100 to 150 villagers demonstrating. “We want the Taliban to release them, because they are guests,” Zaman said. “They are in Afghanistan and we want them to be safe.”

Update 11:40am Eastern. Taliban wants an 8-for-8 hostages for jailed jihadis trade.

I know I shouldn’t been stunned by the lack of attention being paid to this story, but I am. The 23 South Korean Christians, including 18 women, kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan are scheduled to be put to death tonight. The hostages are mostly medical workers and teachers. The ultimatum has been pushed back three times now:

Troops killed at least 75 militants in three separate battles in southern Afghanistan, while the Taliban extended the deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages until Tuesday evening.

South Korea’s president appealed for calm as the deadline neared. Afghan elders and clerics were trying to negotiate with militants holding the hostages in central Afghanistan.

In southern Helmand province, Afghan troops ambushed by militants called in airstrikes and fought back with small-arms and mortar fire, the U.S.-led coalition said. The coalition said at least 36 insurgents were killed in the fighting Monday, but no Afghan or coalition troops were hurt.

In Uruzgan province, police clashed for three days with militants blocking the road leading to Kandahar province, leaving 26 militants and two policemen dead, said Wali Jan, the Uruzgan deputy highway police chief. NATO-led and Afghan army troops joined the battle Tuesday, reopening the road for civilians traffic, he said.

Another 13 suspected militants were killed in Kandahar province, the Defense Ministry said.

The battles took place in remote and dangerous parts of Afghanistan, and the death tolls could not be independently confirmed.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said the militants had extended the deadline on the fate of the kidnapped South Koreans another day after the Afghan government refused to release any of the 23 Taliban prisoners the insurgents want freed.

The militants have pushed back their ultimatum at least three times.

The Independent reports on the underground Afghan Christian movement. Apostates, as you’ll remember from the Abdul Rahman case, are subject to the death penalty for abandoning Islam:

The kidnapping of South Korean church volunteers by the Taliban has sparked vigils in Seoul, and shone the spotlight on Afghanistan’s small, underground Christian community.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, home to one of Islam’s most revered shrines, Ahmedi, 33, says he would be killed instantly if his faith were exposed. In this staunchly traditional society, conversion from Islam remains reviled by many Afghans - and by government officials. “If the war had not happened, if the Americans and foreigners had not come to Afghanistan, we would not have this freedom and we would not have this office,” says Ahmedi, who was fearful of giving his full name. The “office” is a community centre set up by a Christian charity, and Ahmedi is one of 100 or so Christians living in the northern city.

Rumours abound here that many aid organisations are used as a cover by foreigners to indoctrinate people into Christianity. And in Ahmedi’s case, there is an element of truth - he converted from Shia Islam three years ago after meeting an American evangelical. Now his wife and four children are also Christian, and he is the priest of a local church. He has even helped convert other Afghans.

The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province, and belong to the Saemmul Church in Bundang, which says they are working as volunteer nurses and English teachers. However, boasts from some evangelical church leaders in South Korea about unofficially sending missionaries to Afghanistan has muddied the water between Christian volunteers doing humanitarian work, and those whose primary mission is to seek converts overseas.

In Mazer-e-Sharif, a recent convert called Abdullah recalled how his family reacted when he revealed his change of faith. “When I received Jesus, I went to my house and I didn’t say prayers any more like other Muslims,” he said. “One night my father asked me to get up and pray, but I told him I can’t. He asked me why, and I told him I was a Christian. He started to fight with me.”

Abdullah’s parents have come to accept his religion, but his oldest brother continues to ostracise him, and most other people do not even know he has converted. “If I go out and say I am a Christian they will curse me, hit me and kill me,” he said, matter of factly…Despite the dangers they face, Afghan Christians refuse to give in to the fear that they will be found out. “If I am afraid I will never receive Jesus,” said Abdullah.

The Jawa Report is keeping vigil over these and other forgotten hostages of the jihadis.

Instead of questioning the zeal of head-chopping Muslim fanatics, some Koreans are questioning the “evangelical zeal” of peaceful Christian missionairies:

The kidnapping of 23 Korean church volunteers in Afghanistan has raised questions in South Korea over whether the country’s evangelical Christian groups may be too zealous in sending missionaries overseas.

There are an estimated 17,000 South Korean Christian missionaries abroad, the largest contingent after those from the United States, with many of them in volatile regions. Several major dailies questioned why the church that sent the volunteers to Afghanistan ignored government warnings of the risk of conflict with the Islamic militarist Taliban.

“Religious groups should realise once and for all that dangerous missionary and volunteer activities in Islamic countries including Afghanistan not only harm Korea’s national objectives, but also put other Koreans under a tremendous amount of duress,” the right-leaning Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.

The Saemmul church from which the kidnapped Koreans were dispatched is relatively moderate and its missions abroad have focused on volunteer medical and humanitarian work, people in the Christian community say.

As of 8:30am, there is nothing on the front page of the Human Rights Watch website about the plight of the South Korean Christian volunteers. Instead, the lead story is an article lambasting U.S. mandatory deportation laws regarding convicted criminal aliens. I kid you not.

Update: Reader Ken writes that he lived in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan “for most of 2002 and the Christian Charity there is called ‘Samaritan’s Purse’ based in North Carolina. They did wonderful things with very few resources unlike much better-funded organizations like ‘Save the Children.’ I am not surprised to hear they’ve converted 100 Muslims to Christianity as they simply do good things everyday. They give out shoes and food to the endless orphans abandoned by Islam to the backdrop of their revered ‘Blue Mosque.’ I specifically remember ‘Nina’ bravely walking through the streets of MeS (that what we called Mazar-i-Sharif) minus even her head scarf. Men glared at her but she was very strong and carried herself with the full knowledge men can only kill her body but not her spirit.”

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#101

On July 24th, 2007 at 6:08 pm, ammonrae said:

Not only this war should end, the troops should come back home, and all global bases closed, I also think we should repeal the War Powers Act as well.
#102

On July 24th, 2007 at 6:08 pm, olblueyes said:

Surely, Americans don’t want another war. If this is the “Bush era” you speak of then yes any candidate advocating invading another country during the next election cycle will face certain defeat politically. Bush had the numbers in the polls easy in his favor after routing the Taliban in Afghanistan and could have ended the war on terror there but, politics be damned, he did what he thought was the right thing concerning Iraq. With the constant negative tone of the MSM, Americans have grown tired of war and want to be done with it. I doubt though that many people realize that retreating from Iraq will equate to a victory for Al Qaeda in their eyes and potentially invite them to continue the jihad on American shores.
#103

On July 24th, 2007 at 6:12 pm, olblueyes said:

Not only this war should end, the troops should come back home, and all global bases closed, I also think we should repeal the War Powers Act as well.

Yeah, we should also deactivate all our nukes, dismantle the military and then we could spend that 400 billion dollars on Hillary care for illegal immigrants, ooops, i mean Americans…Hooray!!!
#104

On July 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm, bipartisancomplainer said:

On supporting this war - it’s won already. What’s our remaining
goal(s)?

WMD - check
Odai/Qusay - check
Saddam Hussein - check
Zarqawi - check
Elections - check

The remaining goal is to make sure Iraq is not a lawless nation that becomes a safe haven for international terrorists already known to have moved into the country. But thanks for detailing how much positive has been accomplished and why we should persevere and see it through to completion.
#105

On July 24th, 2007 at 8:35 pm, 3Steps said:

MikeB says…

Having said that, I have to ask: Shouldn’t Christianity and all religions be out of the “missionary” business. Why try to convert people to your faith? The Taliban has nothing better to do than attack infidels.

There are so many problems in the world as it is, fighting over which god one believes in should be at the bottom of everyone’s agenda.

You know… when I posted first thing this morning one of my thoughts was how is Mike going to defend this one.

How stupid of me. Blame the victims.

Because of course.. the Taliban doesn’t care about converting anyone. If we leave them alone they will leave us alone right? Coexist and all that…

Have you read the Qu’ran?

They don’t coexisist. If you are not Muslim you are expendable. Trade with them while it suits your purpose then when you are done with them let them live only if they convert or PAY to be treated as a second class citizan.

Taliban converts by the sword. Yet you would blame nurses and teachers who believe by helping others they are doing the work that God wishes them to do.

Is there anyone you don’t hate?
#106

On July 24th, 2007 at 8:53 pm, Artbyruth said:

MikeB said: “There are so many problems in the world as it is, fighting over which god one believes in should be at the bottom of everyone’s agenda.”

And yet it is at the top of the agenda of the Muslims who are being true to their faith. They are COMMANDED to convert us or kill us. That’s it. Bottom line.

When will you Liberals realize this?
#107

On July 24th, 2007 at 9:00 pm, Artbyruth said:

Christians are blamed for all the misery in the world and yet when Christians risk their lives to go and help in poorer countries…they are attacked for “spreading their religion” and stirring up trouble.

Yes, MikeB, blame the victims. That’s real good.

Remember…

“First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

-Rev. Martin Niemoller

“Then they came for me…” May we never be accused of this because we failed to stand up against tyranny to help those who are being oppressed.

I thought this is what you Liberals were all about: caring for the oppressed in the world…????
#108

On July 25th, 2007 at 5:16 am, gayle said:

Not trying to get into a religious debate, but here it is;

MIKEB, I capitalize GOD btw. He is MY creator.

Maybe if the Liberals believed in the one true GOD, their lives wouldn’t be so mis-managed. They lack substance, ethics, and family values, in my honest opinion. Everything GOD represents, they are against.

Liberals for the most part are unhappy people with no sense of true self. They project their self dislike on others. They have become souless.

This is my assessment - MY opinion and I am not speaking for others on the board.
#109

On July 25th, 2007 at 7:53 am, MikeB said:

Gayle, have you ever met a real live liberal? I didn’t think so. And, yes, many liberals are religious. Do you know what state has the lowest divorce rate Gayle? Yes, Mass. The highest? Arkansas.

You say liberals are against what God represents? How about love thy neighbor as thyself. We love people no matter what their color, class, or sexual preference. God said to care about those less fortunate. We do care. We want all Americans to have health coverage. On a personal level, I find virtually all conversatives I meet to be fine folks. I know you are very charitable, etc. But, so are many liberals. Maybe you should not limit your reading to right wing blogs and you may learn a thing or two.

And by the way, Gayle, the problem with believing in the “one true God” is that your neighbor’s one true God is different from yours. I refer you to Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side.”

3-Steps and Art, yes the Taliban are horrible. That’s why as I said in post #2 we should not have cut and run from Afghanistan, we should have stayed the course, we should have finished the job and not be diverted so W. can prove he’s more manly than his old man.
#110

On July 25th, 2007 at 8:34 am, gayle said:

I believe that MASS is mostly Catholic?
Sorry, but I don’t bow to statues and kiss the pope. (Idoltry/false gods)

I don’t have to accept my neighbors’ behaviors. I do not have to approve of liberalism. I stand for what I believe GOD wants me to represent. Like it or not, I do not care.

You lowercased GOD when you should never disrespect HIM. That was my issue.

I do not want this to be a religious argument, so I will drop the issue.
Just use GOD as He properly should be addressed.
#111

On July 25th, 2007 at 8:37 am, 3Steps said:

*yawn*

the whole blame Bush thing getting boring MikeB. I can’t stand the man but we are talking about christians in Afganistian and you come back with Iraq war rhetoric.

I want to see you defend your comment that they they had no right to be there in the hospitals and school because they are christian.

Not everything in this world has to do with Bush or the conflict in Iraq.
#112

On July 25th, 2007 at 8:38 am, 3Steps said:

Gayle

Atheists don’t use the capitolized God.
#113

On July 25th, 2007 at 8:44 am, gayle said:

Exactly 3Steps.

MIKEB belongs on another blog if he thinks we’ll buy his, “we care about everyone!”.

They only care when they can CONTROL.
Which btw rhymes with TROLL.