Trump: Rescue of American family ‘positive moment’ for Pak-US ties

washington — President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that US and Pakistani officials had secured the release of an American woman, her Canadian husband and their three children from Taleban captivity.

The US leader identified the kidnapped couple as Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle, kidnapped during a backpacking trip in Afghanistan in 2012, and said their release was a “positive moment” for US relations with Pakistan.

“Ms Coleman gave birth to the couple’s three children while they were in captivity,” Trump said in a

the family had been held hostage by the Haqqani network Donald Trump, US president

White House statement. “Today, they are free.”

Trump said that the family had been held hostage by the Haqqani network, “a terrorist organication with ties to the Taleban.”

The Pakistani military said on Thursday the hostages had been recovered in Kurram Agency, part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, where militants such as the Haqqanis operated with impunity until the army intensified an operation there in 2014.

Kurram borders Nangarhar and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan. Both provinces are riven by militancy, with Daesh gaining a foothold in Nangarhar and Paktia seen as a Haqqani stronghold.

The military said the five hostages were “safe and sound and are being repatriated to the country of their origin”.

Boyle and Coleman appeared in a hostage video in December last year with two of their children pleading for their release. —