Taliban Taliban Unlikely to Hurt Korean Women Hostages

By Gul Khan

Special to Korea Times

KABUL--While the abduction of Korean citizens is a serious issue for Koreans in general and Afghans and the rest of the world in particular, the one thing soliciting the mind is that the majority of the hostages are women and neither Islam nor the Afghan culture allows any one to kill or mistreat women.

The Taliban, who seized the Korean citizens while on volunteer medical services to Afghanistan, are the fundamentalists who are against women leaving the houses without their "hijab" (a veil from head to toe) and their socializing with men.

But the one thing encouraging and self-soliciting is that they would not hurt the hostages because the majority of them (15) are women and Islam never allows its follower to hurt a woman even if she is a non-Muslim.

Muslims are divided over the issue of "hijab" and their socializing with men or working in offices and going out to the market. Some clerics believe that a Muslim woman should remain inside the four walls of her house and should not come out without wearing "hijab" and take a male escort, who might be her father, husband or brother.

As for the hard-liner Taliban, who ruled over 95 percent of Afghanistan from 1996 to late 2001, when their government was toppled as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan against the backdrop of the September 11 incident, they had banned women from attending offices and venturing into market places without wearing "hijab".

Their other anti-women policies included ban on girl students to attend schools, travel from one place to another without a male escort, wearing high-heel shoes and red socks (they believed it was inviting sex), working in offices and socializing with men, other than their blood relatives, in any place.

The Taliban regime, which introduced the medieval practices in 21st century Afghanistan, argued that the measures taken by them were in line with Islam and Sharia (code of life taught by Islam for a Muslim), but the majority of Muslim clerics opposed the steps and dissociated themselves from the Taliban-style of Islam.

The Taliban or students of religion, also used to whip any woman they found in the market without wearing "hijab" or being escorted by a male family member.

Besides, they also beat men for not growing beards and not attending prayers during prayer times.

Since their overthrow in late 2001 and their re-emergence in 2005, the militants had so far kidnapped several foreigners, but they never hurt a woman during that period.

The majority of the foreigners were released after striking a clandestine agreement with the Afghan authorities or their respective government.

Besides Islam, the Afghan culture also strictly forbade men from attacking women.

Although violations of women's rights are rampant in the predominantly male society in Afghanistan, men never attack a woman with a weapon as they consider it cowardice and against tradition.

And all Afghans, especially the majority of the Pashtun ethnicity, are more loyal to their traditions than their religion (Islam). A Pashtun male, who attacks a woman, is despised by his tribe and often expelled from the community besides destroying his commitment to the Lashkar (group of tribal volunteers who are bound to respect the orders of their chieftain).

Hence, it is a general feeling among Afghans that the South Koreans must be freed and return to their country.

Although already engaged in a guerilla war against the nearly 40,000 armed foreign troops and the Afghan government, the Taliban never worry about the reaction in case they hurt any of the hostages.

However, they will surely be afraid of the public feeling of hatred for violating the Afghan traditions by hurting a woman. Hence, they would remain on guard as far as fate of the female hostages is concerned.