Family freed from Afghan terrorists after 5 years
Pakistani army rescue was based on U.S. intelligence
An American woman and her Canadian husband who were kidnapped by a Taliban-affiliated group in Afghanistan five years ago have been freed, along with their three children, U.S. and Pakistani authorities said Thursday.
The Pakistani army said its soldiers recovered the family in an operation based on U.S. intelligence.
Caitlan Coleman and her husband, Joshua Boyle, were abducted in 2012 while traveling in Afghanistan and were held captive by the Haqqani network.
Coleman, 32, from Stewartstown, Pa., was seven months pregnant when she was captured after traveling to Afghanistan via Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The couple had three children while in captivity.
The Toronto Star reported there was a shootout, and Boyle said the last words he heard from the captors were “kill the hostages,” according to the Associated Press. The newspaper reported all five captors were killed.
News crews flocked to Coleman’s parents’ home just outside Stewartstown, awaiting word from Jim and Lyn Coleman on the release of their daughter and her family. The couple quietly worked for the family’s release the past five years.
Thursday, a statement on the home’s door read, “The Coleman family appreciates all the interest and concern being expressed at the joyful news that Caity, Josh and our grandchildren have been released after five long years of captivity. At this time, we ask that everyone respect our privacy as we make plans for the future.”
President Trump said in a statement Thursday, “Yesterday, the United States government, working in conjunction with the government of Pakistan, secured the release of the Boyle-Coleman family from captivity in Pakistan.
“Today, they are free. This is a positive moment for our country’s relationship with Pakistan.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed the United States’ “deep gratitude” to Pakistan’s government and army.
The couple appeared in two videos in 2013 in which they asked the U.S. government to free them. In a video in December
2016, they urged the United States and Canada to help secure their release.
“They were captured by terrorists from Afghanistan during
2012 and kept as hostages there. U.S. intelligence agencies had been tracking them and shared their shifting across to Pakistan on 11 Oct. 2017 through Kurram Agency border,” a statement by the Pakistani army said.
It said, “All hostages were recovered safe and sound and are being repatriated to the country of their origin.”
Trump called on Pakistan to do more to tackle militant groups on its soil in a speech in August announcing his strategy for Afghanistan.
In his statement Thursday, Trump said, “The Pakistani government’s cooperation is a sign that it is honoring America’s wishes for it to do more to provide security in the region.
“We hope to see this type of cooperation and teamwork in helping secure the release of remaining hostages.”
“The Pakistani government’s cooperation is a sign that it is honoring America’s wishes for it to do more to provide security in the region.” President Trump