a filipino diplomat is still being held hostage in afghanistan with two other u.n. personnel

let everyone know...

annetta flanigan of northern ireland, filipino diplomat angelito nayan and shqipe habibi of kosovo are still being held hostage in afghanistan. they helped organize the october 9 election. a group of armed men snatched them from a u.n. vehicle on a busy kabul street last thursday.

this is an unjust and desperate move of a taliban breakaway group as they attempt to put a brake on the country's post-taliban recovery. this is also a lame attempt to overshadow the crowning of u.s. favorite hamid karzai as its first democratically elected president. i condemn the action of this breakaway group. taking hostages to make a political point is always a cowardly act.

at the same time, i also see this is as a result of a wrong socio-cultural understanding among western powers that western-style democracy can be imposed on a nation by political and military force. democracy cannot be enforced from the outside to the inside—in this case, from the united states to the people of afghanistan. this is one reason why i am skeptic about george w. bush’s policy of enforcing western democracy by using american political-military machineries. democracy cannot be imposed through the barrel of the gun!

anyway, we, the people of the philippines, must unite our hearts and minds towards the freedom of our brother, angelito nayan, and his colleagues, annetta flanigan and shqipe habibi.