On Wednesday, the Pakistani army released an American woman, her Canadian husband, and the three children they had during the five years that had been abducted by a Taliban-associated military group. The family was localized by American intelligence in an area of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where they were abducted in 2012.
“All the hostages have been recovered safely and will be repatriated to their country of origin,” the Pakistani Military Communication office (ISPR) said in a statement on Thursday. He also specified that the successful operation was the result of cooperation between his troops and the intelligence of the United States.
Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle disappeared during a trip in a mountainous region near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. During the five years of detention by the Haqqani group, associated with the Taliban, the family spent most of their time in that country. However, this week the US authorities detected that they had been transferred to Pakistan, so they immediately alerted their army. The woman was pregnant when she was detained. He had that son and two others during his captivity.
“It’s a positive moment for our relationship with Pakistan.” “The cooperation of his Government is a sign that they are honoring American desires to provide more security in the region,” said U.S. president Donald Trump in a statement.
The Taliban published in December 2016 a video of the couple accompanied by two of their children in which they asked for help to the then President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his successor, Donald Trump. “They are willing to kill us, to kill women, to kill children, to kill those who need to change the political situation,” Coleman said in the short film. The reason for the kidnapping, according to the Taliban, for the attacks of the west and the political pressures exerted in the Middle East.
The release of Boyle, Coleman and his children occurs at a time of tension between Pakistan and the USA, after Trump asserted on August 21 that Islamabad had “much to lose” if it continues to “harbor” terrorists. Islamabad denied the allegations and postponed several official trips between the two countries, including the foreign minister, Khawaja Asif, who traveled to Washington seven weeks later.
The Pakistani Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution proposing the closure of supply routes to Afghanistan for US and NATO forces on 30 August.
