VOA News / October 14, 2017 A kidnapped American-Canadian couple and their three children have returned to Canada, after enduring five years as captives of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan. The family landed in Toronto late Friday aboard an Air Canada flight from London. Caitlan Coleman, a U.S. citizen, and her Canadian husband, Joshua
VOA News October 13, 2017 ISLAMABAD — An American-Canadian couple and their three children left Pakistan for U.K. on Friday after five years in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan. Acting on a tip from U.S. intelligence, Pakistani officials say their troops rescued U.S. national Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, on Wednesday hours after their
VOA News October 12, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s military has rescued a U.S.-Canadian family from a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, nearly five years after they were abducted by militants. U.S. national Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle went missing in Afghanistan in 2012 and the Afghan Taliban later claimed responsibility for kidnapping them. The
VOA News October 9, 2017 Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has decided to “drastically” reduce its presence and relief operations in war-torn Afghanistan, citing a series of recent attacks that have killed seven of its staff, including a foreigner. “This is a difficult moment for the ICRC and the
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 5, 2017 Two Afghan staff members from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who had been abducted by armed men in February in the northern Jozjan Province have been released. “We are relieved and grateful that our colleagues are now back with us unharmed,” ICRC head of delegation
VOA News July 26, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Afghan security forces Wednesday safely recovered two Pakistani diplomats weeks after they were abducted in eastern Afghanistan. The men were serving at Pakistan’s consulate general in the Afghan city of Jalalabad and traveling back to their country on June 16 when they went missing. No one had claimed responsibility
Press TV July 23, 2017 Afghan security forces have launched a major search operation for some 30 villagers still missing two days after a mass kidnapping blamed on the Taliban militants in the country’s troubled south. Zia Durrani, a police spokesman in the southern province of Kandahar, said on Sunday that about 30 people were
VOA News / June 18, 2017 Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD — Taliban insurgents have stormed a provincial police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan, killing five people and wounding at least 20. The raid early Sunday in Gardez, capital of Paktia province, began with a suicide car blast at the entrance to the heavily guarded facility. Video showed the
VOA News May 21, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Unknown gunmen have killed a German aid worker and her Afghan security guard in Kabul before kidnapping a Finnish woman who worked for an aid organization. A Finnish Foreign Ministry spokesperson is reported to have confirmed a Finn has been taken hostage, and that there is no information yet
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 15, 2017 An Australian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan last year has been released, according to an Afghan official and the Australian government. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, was kidnapped in Kabul in November. Mohammad Salim Almas, the head of criminal investigations in Kabul, said the woman