Media Kept Quiet on Journalist's Kidnapping

David Rohde begins first-person account of capture, escape

(NEWSER) - New York Times reporter David Rohde begins a gripping first-person account of his 7 months as a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan before he managed to escape. In the first of the five-part series, he writes of his capture ("I waited for the sound of gunfire. I knew I might die but remained strangely calm"), his pleas for release ("I wept, hoping it would created sympathy"), and his revelations about the Taliban ("I came to a simple realization: After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme" and ambitious the group had become). More»

(NEWSER) - A reporter for the New York Times held by the Taliban for 7 months in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan has escaped, the paper says. The Times kept David Rohde’s abduction secret out of concern for his safety and had been in sporadic contact with him and his captors. Last night, he and a local reporter climbed over the wall of the compound where they were held and were helped to safety by a Pakistani soldier. More»

It's more evidence of ties between government, Taliban

(NEWSER) - An investigative piece by the Nation about what happened in the aftermath of an American reporter's escape from his captors demonstrates yet again that Pakistan's secretive ISI agency maintains close ties with the Taliban. The case revolves around New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was kidnapped and held 7 months before his escape. After he got free, the two rival Taliban groups holding him suspected each other of letting him go as part of a deal to keep the ransom money. More»

Newspaper was prepared to pay $5M ransom to Taliban

(NEWSER) - David Rohde escaped from the Taliban only after weeks of planning, taking advantage of a length of rope to aid his descent down a 20-foot wall, the New York Times reports. The journalist and his Afghan colleague waited until a night when the city had electrical power, so the sound of their falls would be muffled by whirring air conditioners. More»

It's punishment for their parents' support of the government

(NEWSER) - The Taliban says it has kidnapped about 25 Pakistani boys as punishment for their parents' support of the government, reports Reuters . Militants reportedly captured the youths when they mistakenly crossed the border into Afghanistan during an outing. A spokesman said militants have yet to decide the boys' fate. "We have kidnapped them as their parents and tribal elders are helping the government and are fighting against us," he said. More»