RAWALPINDI: A North American family that had been held hostage by the Afghan Taliban has been freed following an operation in Pakistan, the Pakistani military said Thursday.
The hostages are “safe and sound and are being repatriated to the country of their origin,” the army said in a statement, after the rescue in Kurram district, part of the semi-autonomous tribal belt along the Afghan border.
“Pak Army recovered 5 Western hostages including 1 Canadian, his US National wife and their three children from terrorist custody,” it said of the operation, which was launched after Pakistani authorities received intelligence from US officials.
It did not name the family, but Canadian Joshua Boyle and his American wife Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped by the Afghan Taliban during a backpacking trip in Afghanistan 2012, and are believed to have had at least two children while in captivity.
Pakistan officials provided no details about the operation.
“We welcome media reports that a family including US citizens has been released from captivity,” a US Embassy spokesman in Islamabad told AFP, without confirming the identity of the released hostages.
Pakistan has been under increased pressure from Washington to crack down on alleged militant sanctuaries inside its borders after US President Donald Trump lambasted the country in a televised address in August.
During the speech, Trump accused Islamabad of sheltering “agents of chaos” and suggested ties with Pakistan would be adjusted immediately but offered few details.
The last known footage of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman surfaced in December last year when they appeared in video urging their governments to secure their release. They were pictured holding their two young sons, who had been born while they were in captivity.
It was not clear when the video was shot, but it was released after rumors swirled in Kabul that the government was planning to execute Anas Haqqani, son of the Taliban-allied Haqqani network’s founder, who has been held since 2014.
The Haqqani network has been accused of masterminding several high-profile terrorist attacks in the Afghan capital and have been known to kidnap Western hostages and smuggle them across the border into Pakistan.
Kurram tribal agency borders Nangarhar and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan. Both are riven by militancy, with the Daesh group gaining a foothold in Nangarhar and Paktia seen as a Haqqani stronghold.
Afghanistan is rife with militants and organized criminal gangs who stage kidnappings for ransom, often targeting foreigners and wealthy Afghans, who have been ferried over the border into Pakistan’s tribal belt.
The Taliban are also believed to be holding American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weekes, both professors at the American University of Afghanistan, who were dragged from their vehicles in Kabul by gunmen in August last year.
US Special Operations forces conducted a secret raid authorized by then-President Barack Obama to rescue them, but the hostages were not there, the Pentagon said at the time.
They most recently appeared in a hostage video released in June this year.
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N. American family kidnapped by Afghan Taliban freed: Pakistan Army
N. American family kidnapped by Afghan Taliban freed: Pakistan Army
‘Not Winston Churchill’: Trump steps up criticism of UK’s Starmer
- Trump criticized Starmer’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, home to the Diego Garcia air base, saying that they have ‘been very, very uncooperative with with that stupid island’
- Donald Trump: ‘France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others’
LONDON/WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday, saying his lack of immediate support for US strikes on Iran showed “this is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with.” Trump has lashed out at Starmer three times this week after he said neither the British military, or its air bases, were involved in the initial US and Israeli strikes on Tehran that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Starmer told parliament that the government had learnt from its mistakes in backing the US in the 2003 Iraq war, and said any military action must have a “viable, thought-through plan.” He also said he did not believe in “regime change from the skies.” But Starmer has since allowed the US to use UK bases to launch what he called limited and defensive strikes to weaken Tehran’s capabilities, after Iran hit US allies in the region with drones and missiles. On Monday, a British base in Cyprus was hit by a drone that Cypriot officials said was likely launched by Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, prompting London to send a destroyer and more helicopters with counter-drone technology to the region.
Trump told reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he was very disappointed with Britain.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” he said, comparing Starmer with Britain’s revered wartime leader.
Trump also criticized Starmer’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, home to the US-UK air base of Diego Garcia, saying they have “been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.”
Starmer has been criticized from all sides at home for his decision, with opponents on the left calling for him to condemn the military action while on the right, opposition leaders Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage attacked Starmer for failing to back Britain’s key security and intelligence ally.
Britain has long prided itself on its relationship with the US, aided by British leaders such as Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair cultivating strong relationships with their counterparts, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Starmer, a center-left former lawyer, surprised his critics when he too struck up a solid relationship with Trump, but that has been tested in the last year as the US leader became more combative on a number of fronts. Trump earlier told the Sun newspaper he never thought he would see Britain become a reluctant partner, instead heaping praise on France and Germany.
“This was the most solid relationship of all,” he said. “And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe.”
“France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.”
Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement in response to Iranian attacks on Saturday, saying they were in close contact with the US, Israel and partners in the region, and were calling for a resumption of negotiations.
Starmer has defended his response, telling parliament on Monday he had to judge what was in Britain’s national interest. “That is what I have done, and I stand by it,” he said.
Polling published by YouGov on Tuesday showed people in Britain were opposed to the US strikes on Iran by 49 percent to 28 percent.
Trump told reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he was very disappointed with Britain.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” he said, comparing Starmer with Britain’s revered wartime leader.
Trump also criticized Starmer’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, home to the US-UK air base of Diego Garcia, saying they have “been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.”
Starmer has been criticized from all sides at home for his decision, with opponents on the left calling for him to condemn the military action while on the right, opposition leaders Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage attacked Starmer for failing to back Britain’s key security and intelligence ally.
Britain has long prided itself on its relationship with the US, aided by British leaders such as Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair cultivating strong relationships with their counterparts, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Starmer, a center-left former lawyer, surprised his critics when he too struck up a solid relationship with Trump, but that has been tested in the last year as the US leader became more combative on a number of fronts. Trump earlier told the Sun newspaper he never thought he would see Britain become a reluctant partner, instead heaping praise on France and Germany.
“This was the most solid relationship of all,” he said. “And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe.”
“France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.”
Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement in response to Iranian attacks on Saturday, saying they were in close contact with the US, Israel and partners in the region, and were calling for a resumption of negotiations.
Starmer has defended his response, telling parliament on Monday he had to judge what was in Britain’s national interest. “That is what I have done, and I stand by it,” he said.
Polling published by YouGov on Tuesday showed people in Britain were opposed to the US strikes on Iran by 49 percent to 28 percent.
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