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Pakistan rescues Canadian-American family held hostage for five years Canadian-American family freed after five years as captives in Afghanistan
(35 minutes later)
An American woman, her Canadian husband and their three young children have been released after years held captive by a network with ties to the Taliban. US officials have confirmed the release of an American woman, her Canadian husband and their three young children, bringing an end to the couple’s nearly five years in captivity at the hands of militant group aligned with the Taliban.
US officials told the Associated Press that Pakistan has secured the release of Caitlan Coleman and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle. The two were abducted five years ago while traveling in Afghanistan and have been held by the Haqqani network. US officials confirmed to the Associated Press that troops in Pakistan had rescued American Caitlan Coleman and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle. The couple were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 and believed to be held by the Haqqani network, a network deemed a terrorist organisation by the US.
Coleman was pregnant when she was captured. The couple had three children while in captivity. In a statement, the Pakistan military said that US intelligence officials had been tracking the family and had alerted Pakistan when the couple was moved into the tribal areas that border Afghanistan. “All hostages were recovered safe and sound and are being repatriated to the country of their origin,” it added.
The family’s current location, however, was unclear. And officials declined to say when the family planned to return to North America. Pakistan officials did not say when the rescue had taken place or where the family is now. Officials also declined to say when they would return to North America.
The US has criticized Pakistan for failing to aggressively go after the Haqqanis. The rescue comes some 10 months after the couple’s captors released a video, showing Boyle, Coleman and two of their children – the couple had three children while in captivity – pleading with their governments to negotiate with their captors.
A US national security official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation, commended Pakistan for their assistance. In the video, Coleman described their ordeal as “the Kafkaesque nightmare in which we find ourselves”.
Pakistan’s army did not name those held, only saying it worked with US intelligence officials to track down the hostages and free them after discovering they had been brought into Pakistan. Their capture came after a backpacking trip that began in Russia and took them through Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan before arriving in northern Afghanistan. Coleman, who is from Pennsylvania, was 28 years old at the time and pregnant with their first child.
More details soon ... Coleman’s parents said they had last heard from their son-in-law in 2012, who contacted them from an internet cafe in what he described as an “unsafe” part of Afghanistan.
In 2013, the couple appeared in two videos pleading with the US government to free them from the Taliban. Coleman’s parents later told reporters that they had received a letter in which their daughter said she had given birth to a second child in captivity.
In the most recent video, the couple refer to their two sons as their “surviving children” without explanation, indicating Coleman potentially miscarried.
Coleman’s parents, Jim and Lyn Coleman, told the online Circa News service in July 2016 that they received a letter from their daughter in November 2015, in which she wrote that she had given birth to a second child in captivity. It’s unclear whether they knew she had had a third.
“I pray to hear from you again, to hear how everybody is doing,” the letter said. In that interview, Jim Coleman issued a plea to top Taliban commanders to be “kind and merciful” and let the couple go.
“As a man, father and now grandfather, I am asking you to show mercy and release my daughter, her husband, and our beautiful grandchildren,” Jim Coleman said. “Please grant them an opportunity to continue their lives with us, and bring peace to their families.”