OpinionTrending Commentary

Family Held Prisoner in Pakistan Is Freed

CaitlanColeman and Joshua Boyle

You wouldn’t know it from the Mainstream Media, but President Donald Trump’s administration announced Thursday they’d secured the release of an American family held prisoner by the Taliban for five years — a humiliating blow to former President Barack Obama’s legacy. For years, Obama failed to do anything about it. This tells me once again whose side Obama was really on.

In 10-months since he left office, the international respect of the United States and our military might has improved so much the Taliban voluntarily gave up five key hostages.

The couple had appeared on numerous videos during Obama’s second term pleading for his help and saying, “Please do not be the next Jimmy Carter”, a reference to the Carter administration’s failure to secure freedom for the Americans held in Iran in 1979.

Nothing was done – until now. Last week, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford appeared before Congress and promised that Islamic terrorists would no longer be allowed use Pakistan as a sanctuary.

“Something happened today, where a country that totally disrespected us called with some very, very important news. One of my generals came in and they said, ‘You know, I have to tell you, a year ago they would’ve never done that.’ It was a great sign of respect,” Trump said.

“You’ll probably be hearing about it over the next few days. But this is a country that did not respect us. This is a country that respects us now. The world is starting to respect us again, believe me.”

The message was received — and now, an American woman and her children are finally coming home.

I really believe that as time goes on, The Democrats saying not my President are only going to be embarrassing  themselves more. Trump has already done more in his short term in office than Obama did in 8 years. Obama was leading the Democratic party, rather than protecting the people and getting things done to help the average American. Trump is the first president in quite a few years that is working for the people, not his party, regardless of what they are promoting, an all or nothing approach, which the American people were good and tired of and that’s a big reason while even Hillary couldn’t get herself elected, even after spending nearly a billion dollars from her rich cronies.

So far under Trump the market is up 25%, 5.2 trillion dollars in new wealth has been created, we have the lowest unemployment rate in 16 years, the best labor participation rate in 7 years and the lowest number of people on food stamps in seven years.

You will NEVER see or hear any of this or about the release of the American family held by the Taliban from the MSM. Nor will you hear the employment for minority Americans is up.—jobs, jobs, jobs.

But then a strange twist occurred. The Canadian man who was rescued from his terrorist captors along with his American wife and their three children after spending five years as hostages refused to board a US military plane on Thursday over fears he will now face punishment over his first marriage to a known terror suspect.

Caitlan Coleman, 31, was given back to US commandos along with her husband Joshua Boyle, 34, and their three young children after being rescued by Pakistani forces late on Wednesday night.

They were being transported in the trunk of a car from one location to another by their Haqqani-network captors when Pakistani forces ambushed their convoy and rescued them.

There was a shootout and Boyle told relatives the last words he heard were his kidnappers shouting ‘kill the hostages’. He was wounded by shrapnel and his captors were killed, one official said.

President Trump celebrated their release as a joint effort between US and Pakistani officials on Thursday. However, Boyle is refusing to get on a US military plane at the air base in Bagram. Instead, he wants to go to Islamabad – where the Canadian military has a base – and board one of its aircraft, according to The Toronto Star which has been in contact with his parents.

They say he fears he will be punished for his first marriage to al Qaeda supporter Zaynab Khadr, the older sister of Omar Khadr who spent eight years between 2002 and 2010 in Guantanamo Bay for war crimes he still denies.

Between 2009 and 2010, Boyle was married to Zaynab Khadr whose father was a close friend of Osama Bin Laden and who defended the 9/11 attacks. She is a Canadian citizen but is now believed to live in Sudan with her fourth husband and four children

Here is a timeline of events:

  • Caitlan Coleman, 31, and her husband Joshua Boyle, 34, were released on Wednesday
  • The couple were abducted in Afghanistan in 2012 when she was pregnant with their first child
  • The pair were taken by the Haqqani network and have been held in Pakistan ever since
  • On Wednesday, the Pakistani government facilitated their release in a joint effort with US officials
  • Boyle – who was previously married to terror suspect Zaynab Khadr – is refusing to board a US plane
  • He fears he may be arrested upon his return to the US or Canada because of his first marriage
  • The Khadr family is known as Canada’s ‘first family of terrorism’ because of its Al Qaeda links
  • Boyle was previously questioned in Canada but was living freely when he was kidnapped

When they were abducted, the couple’s relatives said they were innocent, but naive adventure seekers. They had been married for a year when went to Afghanistan in 2012 .

One of Joshua’s friends writing an article for a Canadian magazine told how he had always been interested in Afghanistan and Islam.

He said he was viewed as a ‘trouble maker’ by the then Conservative Canadian government and that he enjoyed ‘thumbing his nose’ at authorities. I f he was viewed as a trouble maker and  thumbed his nose at authorities then I have very little sympathy for him.

The author, who met him in 2002 – the same year Omar Khadr was detained – said he feared he may have ‘bitten off more than he could chew’ with his bold travels to Afghanistan.

‘Joshua has a loose connection to Afghanistan, a deep respect for Islam — he may even have been in the process of converting — and a purely academic interest in terrorism, but none of that even remotely qualifies him to travel safely in Afghanistan.

‘It could have been simple naiveté, but I, and many others, have always known Joshua as an exceptionally cunning and savvy man.

‘Maybe he was overconfident. Maybe he was immature. Maybe this time Joshua just bit off more than he could chew,’ he said.

I hope he learned a valuable lesson after being held captive for five years that Islam is not all it’s cracked up to be. Yes he was immature and naïve like his friend and parents said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was at the White House on Wednesday, has not spoken of Boyle’s release and is not thought to have had a role in securing it .

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Jim Clayton

I am a retired former newspaper reporter and retail sales person. I'm a politically conservative easy going person from New Jersey. I am married to a wonderful wife and like talking and writing about movies,, concerts I attend and current events all which I write about here. I would enjoy hearing from anyone on my articles and they can write to me here.

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