Taliban Free American Woman and Family Held Hostage Five Years in Afghanistan

Caitlan Coleman was pregnant at the time she was captured by a Taliban faction.

October 12, 2017 10:14 am

An American woman, her Canadian husband and their two children have been released by a Taliban faction in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The Haqqani network, the same militants who held Bowe Bergdahl captive for five years, kidnapped Caitlan Coleman, 31, and husband Josh Boyle, 34, in October 2012 while they backpacked in the Wardak Province near Kabul.

Coleman was pregnant at the time she was captured, and in video messages since her kidnapping, has described the living conditions as “Kafkaesque,” saying her children had seen her “defiled.”

The family is reportedly in Pakistan. The White House is expected to release a statement once they are safely in American custody.

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