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| A Pakistani soldier stands guard, as stranded Afghanistan nationals return to their country via the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on Sunday. AFP-Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
The Taliban's gaining control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. military forces is a chilling reminder for Koreans of the nightmare that continued for 42 days during the summer of 2007.
On July 19, 2007, 22 Koreans ― six men and 16 women ― were kidnapped by the Taliban on their way to Kandahar from Kabul. Of them, 19 were the members of a Protestant church based in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and three others were Christian missionaries based in Afghanistan.
A day later, the Taliban made public that they were holding the Koreans captive. They urged the Korean government to pull its military forces out of Afghanistan in exchange for the release of the hostages. The Taliban also demanded the Afghan government release jailed Taliban members.
Taking advantage of the media, the Taliban had played a brutal game of taking lives one after another as their initial demands were not met. Two male hostages were killed ― one on July 25 and the other on July 30 ― as the captors' negotiations with the Korean government didn't go the way they wished.
By playing the mind games, they stoke fear throughout those 42 days have taught Koreans about who they are.
A deal was reached and the remaining Koreans were released.
At home, Protestant churches suffered the consequences for their overseas missions, particularly in Islamic countries. To spread faith was portrayed as a reckless, self-centered action.
But the real lesson Koreans learned from the deadly hostage crisis is that the Taliban are an armed group that would do anything to secure their demands. It is fully understandable for the Afghan people to be living in terror after the Taliban have now seized Kabul.
Simple fear of the Taliban has turned into collective disgust of the group.
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