Pakistan forces have finally freed North American family-including an American woman, Canadian man and three children-held hostage by Taliban of Afghanistan after five years, reports Pakistan’s military.
Caitlan Coleman, 31-year- old woman, and her husband, Joshua Boyle, 33-year- old, were kidnapted and captivated by Afghan Taliban in year 2012 when they were on a tour of Afghanistan.
“Pak Army recovered five Western hostages including one Canadian, his US national wife and their three children from terrorist custody”. Pakistan Army statement revealed.
Pakistan military reported that US intelligence tracked the family held hostage since captivation and continually shared the intelligence with Pakistan Army till the family moved to their country. US officials also confirmed that their intelligence about the family’s location was shared with Pakistanis during recent days.
US intelligence agency tracked the family to Afghanistan, and reported on 11th October, 2017 that the family has crossed the border into district of Kurram tribal area of Pakistan.
“We welcome media reports that a family including US citizens has been released from captivity”, one of the US embassies’ spokesperson of Islamabad told the AFP news channel.
The family held hostage was rescued after US tip-off during their operation near Afghanistan’s border, the military reported.
The couple’s videos had been released during their captivity by Haqqani network of Taliban group. In return, the insurgent groups had been demanding for the release of three prisoners jailed in Pakistan. In December, a recent video was released that showed the couple with their two young children and Ms. Coleman, who was pregnant then, pleaded for bringing an end to their ‘Kafkaesque nightmare’ like situation.
After the couple’s release, initially they were kept in Pakistan to make arrangements for their return to Canada or US.
“The operation by Pakistani forces, based on actionable intelligence from US authorities was successful; all hostages were recovered safe and sound and are being repatriated to the country of their origin”, a statement said. “The success underscores the importance of timely intelligence sharing and Pakistan’s continued commitment towards fighting this menace through cooperation between two forces against a common enemy.”
