PORTLAND – Afghan teen-agers from various ethnic groups will attend the Seeds of Peace program for the first time this summer.

Journalist John Wallach founded the program after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 to bring together youths from warring lands. Since then, the lakeside camp in Otisfield has hosted youngsters from the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Cyprus, the Balkans and Portland’s refugee communities.

Youths from the same troubled region participate in daily “co-existence” sessions that aim to give them a forum to express themselves and connect with a human face on the other side. Campers from the different regional programs eat, play and bunk together.

Over 400 campers are expected to attend the camp’s three sessions this summer, although the turmoil in the Middle East has created some uncertainty about the Palestinian and Israeli delegations.

Twelve Afghan teens will be part of the first session, which begins June 24. Six girls and six boys were selected by the Afghan government from a pool of 350 applicants, said Dena Fisher, the program’s executive director, from her New York office.

The program had few other details about the Afghan campers Wednesday, but Fisher said they all speak English and come from a variety of ethnic groups and economic backgrounds.

Afghanistan has already issued passports to the campers, and the U.S. State Department has been helping with the visas.

“The Afghan government got very excited about it. The U.S. government got very excited about it,” Fisher said.

Logistical hurdles are still an issue. There are no flights between Kabul and Boston, for example. And someone will have to pick up the campers’ visas in Islamabad, Pakistan, because the United States has no way of issuing them in Afghanistan.

But such complications are not unusual.

“Seeds of Peace is always challenged because we’re dealing with regions of conflict,” Fisher said.

Last year, fighting in the Middle East created uncertainty about whether Palestinian campers would attend. By the time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed to send the delegation, it was too late to make travel arrangements.

Despite the continued violence, Wallach remains hopeful that Palestinian and Israeli campers will meet up next month and get to know their so-called enemies as fellow human beings. Wallach said he believes the political will to preserve at least this measure of goodwill exists on both sides.

The program has received the names of the Palestinian campers who would attend and the outlook appears very good now, Wallach said, but the situation could still change.

“I think the entire world is watching,” Wallach said. “It’s just so funny because Otisfield is a tiny town, but we’re the last best hope that’s left. There’s not a lot of hope out there when so many people have been killed.”