Pakistan Freed Captors of NYT Reporter

It's more evidence of ties between government, Taliban
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 19, 2010 11:10 AM CST
Pakistan Freed Captors of NYT Reporter
A 1995 file photo of New York Times reporter David Rohde.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

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.

To settle it, one called in the ISI to (brutally) interrogate two guards on duty at the time. When the ISI was convinced Rohde escaped by his own wits, it simply set them free, a development that Rohde himself tells the Nation is "very disturbing." He adds: "If they had two of my guards in their custody and then released them, that seems to fit a broader pattern of the ISI sheltering the Taliban." The piece also demonstrates the level of distrust between Taliban factions. Click here for the full story.
(More David Rohde stories.)

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