AN American woman, her Canadian husband and their three young children have been released after years held captive by a network with ties to the Taliban, US and Pakistani officials said.
Pakistan secured the release of Caitlan Coleman and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, who were abducted five years ago while travelling in Afghanistan and had been held by the Haqqani network in Pakistan.
President Donald Trump called yesterday’s development a “positive moment” for US relations with Pakistan.
He said Pakistan’s “co-operation is a sign that it is honouring America’s wishes for it to do more to provide security in the region”.
Trump said the US hopes “to see this type of co-operation and teamwork in helping secure the release of remaining hostages and in our future joint counterterrorism operations”.
The US has long criticised Pakistan for failing to aggressively go after the Haqqanis, who have been behind many attacks against US and allied forces in Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, its military said that US intelligence agencies had been tracking the hostages and discovered they had come into Pakistan on October 11 through its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan
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