Catlin Coleman and Joshua Boyle with two of their children. NBC News
Pakistan has secured the release of a family captured by the Taliban. NBC News. American Catlin Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, along with their three children, are now free. Coleman and Boyle were captives of the Taliban linked Haqqani network, who captured the couple in 2012 in Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant at the time and gave birth to three children in captivity. Pakistan retrieved the family in an "intelligence based mission". The release comes after criticism from the US government who claimed that Pakistan wasn't doing enough to fight terrorism and extremism in the region. There are hopes that US-Pakistan relations will improve after this operation.
My Comment:
Very good news out of Pakistan this morning. Though I doubt that the family was in real danger of death, they were still being held hostage by a group of terrorists/criminals. The Haqqani network is somewhere between a gang, terrorist organization and religious group and they are not nice people. They might not execute many hostages like ISIS does, but they do hold them for ransom, separating them from their families. You may remember that they held SGT Bowe Bergdahl after he deserted the military. He was released after a very controversial prisoner exchange.
Thankfully that didn't happen here. It seems as though the Pakistanis launched a military raid to secure the freedom of this family. There doesn't seem to be much information on that raid. The NBC report didn't mention much and neither did any other article that I have seen. I have seen no reports of causalities or even conflict, at least at the time of this post. Still, such an operation is dangerous and I am glad that the family was rescued safely. I'm very impressed that the Pakistanis were able to pull this off, but I wouldn't be surprised if we helped them with intelligence.
I do have to say that I can't imagine why these people were in Afghanistan in the first place. I don't think I would be comfortable traveling there alone, let alone with a pregnant wife. Afghanistan is a very dangerous place and given how many terrorist groups that are active in the country this family was very lucky that they were kidnapped by a group more interested in ransom. Some of those groups may have loved to execute an American or Canadian hostage.
Bad judgement aside, it must have been horrible to have to raise young children in that environment. I don't know where these people were being held but I am guessing they had to live a life of constant movement and travel. They couldn't stay in any one place for too long due to fears of the hostages being rescued. That would make it very hard to raise kids. Those kids will have a better life now that they are back home. We can all be thankful for that.
This seems like a major goodwill gesture from the Pakistanis. Under President Trump, relations with Pakistan have suffered. Trump has been extremely critical of Pakistan for not doing enough to fight terrorists, and with good reason. Pakistan has long been a base for radical groups and is often used as a staging area for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan. His criticism stung and our relationship with Pakistan suffered.
This raid is a gift and a way to make up for the bad blood between the two countries. Obviously America was very eager to get these people home safe, but there is also political concerns as well. This will be a minor victory for Trump, and may encourage him to work with the Pakistanis. He's already praising them and saying that the move shows respect to him and America.
Will it last? I guess it depends if this is a one off thing. Pakistan still has a lot of work to do in the region. The Taliban still use their country as a base and so do other criminal and terrorist outfits. If they do start to pressure these groups, I see no reason why Trump wouldn't want to work with them. At the very least, this incident can be used as an opening for both sides to try and work together for their common interests. It might not be a panacea but it's a start.
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