Was the Canadian-US family really kept captive in Pakistan?

Ever since the US-Canadian couple, kidnapped by the Taliban was rescued by the Pakistani officials, questions have been raised regarding where they had been kept during the five years they were held hostage.

On Thursday, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) claimed that Joshua Boyle and his family were held inside Pakistan for five years before being freed last week.

“We had a great outcome last week when we were able to get back four US citizens who had been held for five years inside of Pakistan,” CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Foundation for Defence of Democracies think-tank in Washington.

Pompeo’s remarks appeared to be the first time a US official has publicly stated that the family spent their captivity in Pakistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan’s military and government have indicated that Caitlin Colemna, Joshua Boyle and their two children were rescued shortly after they entered Pakistan from Afghanistan along with their captors.

The couple was kidnapped from Afghanistan in 2012 while they were backpacking there. They had their two children in captivity and a third one who died during birth.

Meanwhile US officials have previously said that the family was not in Afghanistan before they were rescued and instead were living in Pakistan. The US believes that the hostages were probably held by the Haqqani network in or near its headquarters in northwestern Pakistan during the entire five years.

Despite these reports by the US, Pakistan still maintains that the family was held hostage in Afghanistan and they were only captured once they were brought to Pakistan a few days before.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=55539

Posted by fatimaarshad on Oct 20 2017. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.