TIMELINE OF A CAPTIVITY
Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their three young children have been released from captivity five years after the couple disappeared in Afghanistan. Here is a timeline of their case.
July 2012
— Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman travel to Russia. They later move on to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and finally to Afghanistan over the course of several months.
Oct. 8, 2012
— Caitlan Coleman’s father hears from Boyle for the last time before the couple is captured. Boyle said he was in an internet cafe in what he described as an “unsafe” part of Afghanistan. The last with- drawals from the couple’s bank account were made Oct. 8 and 9 in Kabul. An Afghan official later said the couple had been abducted in Wardak Province, a rugged, mountainous Taliban haven.
Late 2012 or early 2013
— Coleman’s first child is born. Coleman was pregnant at the time of her capture, and her due date was in December 2012.
June 4, 2014 — Coleman’s family releases two videos of Coleman and Boyle in captivity, saying the clips were provided to them in 2013. The two call on the U.S. to free them and their child from Taliban captors.
November 2015 — Coleman’s family receives a letter from Coleman in which she says she has given birth to a second child in captivity.
Aug. 30, 2016
— A video of Coleman and Boyle is posted on YouTube. In it, Boyle says that their captors will kill them and their children “if the policies of the Afghan government are not overturned, either by the Afghan government or by Canada, somehow, or the United States.” A Taliban official has said the video was recorded in 2015.
December 2016
— Another video is posted online, this time featuring Coleman, Boyle and their two young children. In the video, Coleman urges governments on all sides to reach a deal to secure the family’s freedom.
Oct. 12, 2017 — U.S. officials say Pakistan secured the family’s release. According to officials, Coleman had a third child while in captivity. In a press release, the Pakistani military says Boyle and Coleman will be “repatriated to the country of their origin.”