President Eisenhower in Kabul

Because Afghanistan is 99% Muslim, most of us are unaware that a bishop was created in Herat in 424 AD. and  there was a Christian community for 900 years. In 409, the Nestorian Church was recognized by the King of the Sassanid Empire, and the Apostolic Church of the East placed bishops in nine Afghanistan cities. During the reign of Timur (1336-1405), however, the Christian Church was nearly eradicated across Afghanistan and Persia. When Anglican missionary Joseph Wolff preached in Kabul in Persian in 1832 the Christian community numbered only 23 people. The only recognized church in Afghanistan today is inside the Italian embassy. Italy was the first country to recognize Afghanistan's independence in 1919, and the Afghan government asked how it might thank Italy. Rome requested authority to include a Roman Catholic chapel in their embassy. Because of its location within the diplomatic enclave, however, the chapel is not accessible by Afghan nationals.

In 1959, President Eisenhower visited Afghanistan. Since the Islamic Center of Washington had recently been built in Washington, DC for Muslim diplomats, Eisenhower asked King Shah for authority to construct a Protestant Church in Kabul for the use of the diplomatic corps and the expatriate community. Christians from around the world contributed toward its construction. At its dedication on May 17, 1970, the cornerstone carved from Afghan marble proclaimed, "To the glory of God 'Who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood' this building is dedicated as 'a house of prayer for all nations,' in the reign of H.M. Zahir Shah, 'Jesus Christ Himself, being the Chief Cornerstone.' The first pastor of the "President Eisenhower Church" was Dr. J. Christy Wilson.

In 1973, however, the Islamic government had a change of heart about having a Christian Church in their capital. One day a bulldozer appeared and began tearing down the building, even as the church staff served tea to the workers. Demolition was completed on July 17, 1973, the very date that King Mohammed Zahir Shah was overthrown in a coup, ending the 227 year old monarchy. The ensuing decades of conflict caused the virtual destruction of Kabul, displacement for millions of Afghan refugees, and a puppet communist government, followed by the terrorist regime of the Taliban.