NO RANSOM PAID FOR CANADIAN, ENVOY SAYS
Taliban free Colin Rutherford after five years
A Canadian abducted in Afghanistan more than five years ago was released on Monday without payment of a ransom, according to Qatar, which played a key role in securing Colin Rutherford’s freedom.
Qatar’s ambassador to Ottawa, Fahad Mohamed Kafoud, said in an interview that “a lot of people were working behind the scenes” to win Rutherford’s release and that “it wasn’t easy” but that no money had changed hands.
“No, I’m sure no,” the ambassador said.
In a brief statement announcing that “efforts undertaken to secure the release of Colin Rutherford have been successful,” Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion thanked the Persian Gulf nation “for its assistance in this matter.”
The minister did not elaborate on what role Qatar played but Kafoud said instructions to help free the 30- year- old Canadian had come directly f r om t he tiny Arab state’s monarch, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“We received direct instruction from our government and from His Highness the Emir to facilitate and to do our best to help our friend in Canada,” he said. “So we did some contacting, we did some kind of efforts through the ministry of foreign affairs of Qatar … and this has been a successful outcome for Mr. Rutherford who was released today.”
Reached at home in Toronto, Rutherford’s mother, Wendy, said she knew little about what had happened. “Of course I’m elated but officially I’m supposed to say I have no comment at the moment,” she said. “I also don’t know anything much right now except what you see on television.”
A former University of Toronto student, Rutherford left for Afghanistan in October 2010. He had reportedly intended to visit the warravaged country for a twoweek vacation, which his brother Brian later acknowledged was “a poor decision.”
Canadian police informed the family in November 2010 that Rutherford had been kidnapped and the following May a video showed him answering questions posed by a heavily accented interviewer who was not visible to the camera.
Among the questions he was asked was whether he had ever worked for the Canadian government, to which he replied he had not.
He said he was only interested in Afghanistan’s “history and historical sites, old buildings, shrines.”
“I’m an auditor from Canada and I came as a tourist,” he said, adding he had spent two days in Kabul before leaving for Ghazni. He said he had been “apprehended” on his second day in the city, 150 km southwest of Kabul.
The Taliban said they had captured Rutherford and accused him of being a spy. They have operated a political office in Qatar since 2013.
Qatar played a role in brokering the 2014 release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was swapped for five Taliban officials held at Guantanamo Bay.
A U. S. Special Forces officer told a U. S. Senate committee hearing last June that while trying to find Bergdahl he had come across details of Rutherford’s whereabouts. Lt.- Col. Jason Amerine testified that Rutherford was being held in Pakistan, as were another Canadian, Joshua Boyle, and his American wife Caitlin Coleman.
But he said the U. S. State Department had scuttled plans to rescue them because it wanted to focus on freeing Bergdahl. “I failed them. I exhausted all efforts and resources available to return them but I failed,” said the decorated Green Beret.
Boyle is a former Ottawa resident who converted to Islam and was married briefly to Zaynab Khadr, eldest daughter of Canadian alQaida financier Ahmed Said Khadr. He and Coleman were abducted in Afghanistan in 2012. A Foreign Affairs official declined to answer questions about Rutherford’s release, saying the government did not want to “compromise ongoing efforts.” Dion’s statement did not indicate the Canadian’s whereabouts or when he would return home.
“We look forward to Mr. Rutherford being able to return to Canada and reunite with his family and loved ones,” the minister said. “The government of Canada will continue to provide Mr. Rutherford with consular assistance and will assist in facilitating his safe return home.”