Organizers asked to nix festival in Afghanistan

Christian groups warned of dangers of traveling to war-torn country

The government is asking organizers of the 2006 Afghanistan Peace Festival to postpone the event for fear of the safety of participants. The festival is currently scheduled for August 5-7 in the Afghan cities of Kabul, Mazar-I Sharif, and Bamiyan, and approximately 2,000 Christians from Korea and small Korean churches in the United States are expected to participate.

Earlier this week, the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, culture and tourism, and construction and transportation as well as the National Police Agency issued a statement calling on organizers to cancel the festival, warning Korean nationals to avoid visiting the war-torn country.

A government official said that most of the 2,000 expected participants already have their Afghan visas. Most are in their early 20s and have either already departed for Afghanistan or will travel through a third country to get there or are scheduled to depart within the next few days.

Close to 1,600 people were killed in the country last year in the course of fighting between allied and government forces and Taliban rebels, and 1,100 died this year during April, May, and June alone.

The Korean government currently lists Afghanistan as a travel-restricted area and encourages all citizens to leave the country unless they have urgent business there.

"Events held by religions other than Islam are dangerous," said Christian Willach of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. "Security incidents clearly will happen and the Korean government needs to persuade organizers of this event to abandon their plans."

Organizers released a statement on Friday criticizing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for "blindly opposing a peace event out of a desire to protect itself from potential responsibility, an event that seeks to help the poorest nation in Asia in its suffering."

"Over the past four years, more than a thousand Koreans of a particular religion have engaged in diverse activities in Afghanistan," read the statement. "And yet there have been no victims of violence."

In response to the recent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Onnuri Church and the Korea Israel Bible Institute decided to cancel the Jerusalem Peace March 2006, scheduled for August 13-15 in various Israeli cities.