Kabul 24

Kabul 24 recounts the story of twenty-four individuals who worked for the non-profit Shelter Now International (SNI) in Afghanistan. In the weeks before September 11, 2001, these coworkers (eight foreigners and sixteen Afghans) were arrested by members of the Taliban and taken to prison for questioning. While some of the other employees of SNI were able to leave Kabul in order to find safe haven in the SNI offices in neighboring Pakistan, these arrested individuals were interrogated, transported to multiple prisons, faced squalid living conditions, and dealt with a great amount of physical and emotional trauma. Eventually, the eight foreigners were rescued by US Special Forces after the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States military in response to the events of 9/11.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I don't take issue with the individuals from Shelter Now International or their work among Afghanistan's widows, orphans and street children, but I don't think this book necessarily presented the best representation of the events, the Afghan people, and the individuals involved. The authors, Henry O. Arnold and Ben Pearson, seem to focus more on the sensationalism of the events than on focusing on the courage and faith of the SNI eight. There are many books that relate similar stories of believers being arrested, kidnapped, tortured, and even murdered for their faith in Jesus, but in those books, the authors seem to focus more on the Lord's provision of strength and faith and courage, rather than on the horrible actions being committed against the believers. This book, however, focuses on the Taliban and their actions. I am not defending the Taliban in any way, shape or form or any of their actions committed againist the employees of SNI, but I am also aware that the Western world is already completely prejudiced against anything Muslim. In addition to our prejudice, most of the West simply does not know or understand enough about the history of Afghanistan, its culture, or its people to combat our prejudice against Afghans and their religion. I wrote about this before, but I honestly believe if we were brutally honest with ourselves, we would agree that when we hear "Afghan" or "Afghanistan", we will automatically (perhaps unconsciously) connect this entire nation and population with "terrorist".  Just as every religion has its own sects that twists the core beliefs into extremisim, so does Islam. Not every Muslim is a terrorist, just like not every Christian lives in a cabin secluded in the woods and stocking up guns. The problem is that the authors of this book failed to emphasize this understanding enough- that yes, these individuals experienced something horrendous that no one should ever have to experience, but that the SNI eight and the authors realize that the Taliban and al-Qaeda is in fact a very small percentage of individuals practicing the Muslim faith, and that regardless of who these people are and what they have committed, they are just like everyone else in the world- sinners in need of Jesus the Christ.

The title of Kabul 24 is actually a bit of a misnomer; the '24' refers to the twenty-four individuals employed by SNI who were arrested by the Taliban. Eight of those individuals were foreigners from the United States, Germany, and Australia, but sixteen of them were native Afghans who worked with SNI in the various projects in Kabul and around the country. All of the sixteen Afghans remained faithful to the Muslim faith while working with SNI and yet were accused of converting to the 'infidel' religion; they were kept separate from the SNI eight and most likely faced much more difficult and harsh treatment than the rest of the SNI eight. Truly, the book does not mention these individuals and their experiences enough for the title to be Kabul 24. Of course, I understand that many of these Afghans chose to remain employed with SNI after their release, and the lack of attention paid to them during the book may be simply an attempt to protect them from further duress.

One of the most encouraging things about this story is that several of the SNI eight chose to come back to Afghanistan to continue working with SNI.  They responded to the call of God on their lives, regardless of the circumstances and situations and regardless of the risks.  This book is good to read if the reader is able to recognize their prejudice against Muslims and individuals residing in a world so different than our own. Otherwise, I'm afraid more people will come away thinking, "Thank God the US Special Forces rescued those people from those evil Muslims" instead of "Those people were doing some great work in a country that desperately needs the light of Christ- I pray that God was and will continue to be glorified through these events and what is going on in Afghanistan..and I will commit to praying for the nation of Afghanistan and the work that is going on there."