Afghanistan: Missionaries not aid workers
Written byBen Paarmann
The South Korean hostages were carelessly jeopardising their own safety and were in fact Christian missionaries trying to convert Muslims in a volatile war region in Afghanistan's south. Dr. X thinks that this makes the case for a prisoner exchange to free them less convincing.
Written byBen Paarmann
1 comment
I agree. It is distressing to see the missionaries terrified and desperate for help, but to release Taliban prisoners in order to secure freedom for these hostages amounts to a morally dubious secondary trade: essentially the lives of the current hostages who voluntarily assumed the risks of evangelizing in Afghanastan would be traded for future victims of the released Taliban. These future victims may well include locals who have no choice in the matter of living in this war zone.