Mr. Joshua Boyle, the father of the American – Canadian family of five that was freed earlier this week after being held in Taliban captivity for five years, spoke to reporters at Toronto's Pearson International Airport about his ordeal earlier today.
It was a horrifying story, told calmly by Mr. Boyle who shared his hope with the world that his (surviving) children would as from now be able to lead a normal life.
Mr. Boyle suggested that his wife was raped, and his baby killed. He said: "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network in the kidnapping of a pilgrim… was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter. And the stupidity and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife, not as a lone action, but by one guard, but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the commandant."
He added that the family would now work together "to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home".
The Coleman family was captured while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012 and were freed earlier this week by the Pakistani army after a US tip-off.
When they left, Ms. Coleman, who is American, was six months pregnant with their first child. Upon their return, the couple had three children who were all born in captivity. Reporters understood from Mr. Boyle that the youngest is in poor health and will remain in the hospital for the time being.
Back in the US, Ms. Coleman's father Jim has repeatedly claimed that the decision by her Canadian husband to visit the dangerous country was "unconscionable".
"What I can say is taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place is to me and the kind of person I am, is unconscionable," Jim Coleman said after their rescue on Wednesday this week. "I can't imagine doing that myself. But, I think that's all I want to say about that."
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> comments on the release of Caitlan Coleman, Joshua Boyle, and their family from terrorist captivity in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a>. <a href="https://t.co/xEW556DbRJ">pic.twitter.com/xEW556DbRJ</a></p>— Department of State (@StateDept) <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/918502930285707264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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President Trump complimented Pakistan for their efforts in releasing the family.
Source:
https://globalnews.ca/news/3803395/joshua-boyle-family-return-to-canada/
