The South Korean Hostages Crisis

the reports can be found at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/julyweb-only/130-41.0.html

Issue:
The Talebans demanded that all insurgent prisoners in Ghazni province to be release in exchange for the South Koreans Missionaries.

According to Wikipedia, i found out what is the Code of Pashtunwali (Pakhtunwali) is.

Basically it is an ancient feudal tribal "code of honor" that belongs to the Central Asian landscape, particularly to Afghanistan and western Pakistan. As a set of rules guiding both individual and communal conduct, Pashtunwali is still socially enforced in those areas.

Pashtunwali promotes core tenets including self-respect, independence, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, revenge and tolerance toward all (especially to strangers or guests). All these codes of conduct are helpful in maintaining social and moral checks and balances within Pashtun Society. Aside from its core tenets, Pashtunwali is unique to every Pashtun, and it is considered a personal responsibility to discover and rediscover its essence and meaning.

Also, using Wikipedia, i managed to find out more about Talibans. It consists of Sunni Muslims, and ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 where the 911 attacks occurred. America's forces then removed the Taliban leaders. Even till now The War In Afghanistan continues.

The Taliban Sharia law is very strict, especially for woman. Women were forced to wear the burqa in public. They were allowed neither to work nor to be educated after the age of eight, and until then were permitted only to study the Qur'an. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperon, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging(whipping) in the street, and public execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.

I did not really follow the news on the kidnapped of South Korean's missionaries. However, i feel that the Afghanistan Government should not release those prisoners as more chaos will happen and it will give the Taleban's a weak image of the Afghanistan government. The situation is like a double edged sword. If they were to release the prisoners, there is a likelihood for such cases to happen again and that the government would be overthrowed by the Talibans. Yet if they do not, the Koreans will be killed.

From Associated Press "Earlier this year, the Afghan government freed five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the release of an Italian newspaper reporter abducted by the extremist group. The move was harshly criticized by the United States and some European nations, with critics arguing it would be an incentive for the Taliban to stage more kidnappings." Moreover, there has been previous cases of the negotiation for the release of prisoners in exchange for hostages to be freed. This showed us that the Talibans are using threat to get what they want, putting the Afghanistan Government in a tight situation. By releasing, means more chaos and the country will be even more unstable. By ignoring the threat would mean people dying, just because the demand of the Talibans was not met. What makes it worst is that these people are not even inolved in the conflict, yet they have to suffer and die from the mistakes made other people.

If a compromise cant be made between the Talibans, the Afghanistan Government and the South Koreans, war between countries may occur as a result. Its really an irony. The Talibans are taught to follow Pashtunwali which promotes core tenets including self-respect, independence, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, revenge and tolerance toward all (especially to strangers or guests). Yet, they are out there kidnapping the hostages. Are they really practising their faith, or is it just to gain power in the country again?