Kidnapped Canadian Family freed in Pakistan: ‘My wife was raped, child killed' says former hostage
Upon arriving back in Canada, former hostage Joshua Boyle said that the Haqqani network in Afghanistan had killed his infant daughter and raped his wife during the years they were held in captivity. The couple was rescued on Wednesday, five years after they had been abducted by the Taliban-linked extremist network while in Afghanistan as part of a backpacking trip. Coleman was pregnant at the time and had four children in captivity. “The stupidity and evil of the Haqqani network’s kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter,” he said. Boyle said his wife was raped by a guard who was assisted by his superiors. He asked for the Afghan government to bring them to justice. “God has given me and my family unparalleled resilience and determination, and to allow that to stagnate, to pursue personal pleasure or comfort while there is still deliberate and organized injustice in the world would be a betrayal of all I believe, and tantamount to sacrilege,” he wrote in a statement. “It will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home,” he said in his later statement at the airport. “To try to regain some portion of the childhood that they have lost.” The Canadian government said in a statement they will “continue to support him and his family now that they have returned.” “Today, we join the Boyle family in rejoicing over the long-awaited return to Canada of their loved ones,” the Canadian government said. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the Pakistani raid that led to the family’s rescue was based on a tip from US intelligence and shows that Pakistan will act against a “common enemy” when Washington shares information. On Friday, President Donald Trump, who previously warned Pakistan to stop harboring militants, praised Pakistan for its “cooperation on many fronts.” On Twitter, he wrote that the US is starting to develop “a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders.” US officials call the Haqqani group a terrorist organization and have targeted its leaders with drone strikes. But the group also operates like a criminal network. Unlike the Islamic State group, it does not typically execute Western hostages, preferring to ransom them for cash. The Haqqani network had previously demanded the release of Anas Haqqani, a son of the founder of the group, in exchange for turning over the American-Canadian family. In one of the videos released by their captors, Boyle implored the Afghan government not to execute Taliban prisoners, or he and his wife would be killed.
