American Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, have had two sons while being held captive in Afghanistan since 2012.
A new report claims that Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, and their two young sons could have been freed for a $150,000 ransom, but that the FBI did not pursue the deal with their kidnappers.
According to two unnamed American “officials directly involved in the case,” VOX reported Monday that a Taliban representative had told U.S. military negotiators of the proposed deal, but that when news was relayed to the FBI, “the agency never followed up.”
The FBI did not comment on the report.
Boyle’s family said Monday that they had not been told of a ransom demand, and do not believe the VOX report is accurate.
“Our government has assured us since the outset that we would be made promptly aware of any offer from the captors,” Boyle’s parents, Patrick and Linda, wrote in a statement. “If the Taliban or Haqqani network were willing to release them for an amount that a family could arrange, surely they too would have contacted us directly as well at some point.”
The Taliban-linked Haqqani network has held Boyle, 33, and Coleman, 31, since October 2012, when they were kidnapped near Kabul, Afghanistan, during a backpacking trip through Central Asia. Both their sons were born in captivity and seen for the first time in a video made Dec. 3.
Coleman implores then outgoing-U.S. President Barack Obama in the video to think about his “legacy” and free them from their “Kafkaesque nightmare.”
The Boyle family has always believed that the Haqqani network’s demands have been political, which is typically how the group, which is closely aligned with the Taliban, has operated. Hostages are often held for years before release.
An earlier video release of the couple coincided with an August 29 Afghan court decision that ruled Anas Haqqani, the son of the group’s founder, would be executed for his role in helping raise funds for the network. Boyle says in that video that the Afghan government must stop executing Taliban prisoners or the couple would be killed.
“Unfortunately, we believe that what the captors want is beyond what we are able to do,” Boyle’s parents wrote Monday in their statement. “Josh and Caity have been clear in all of their scripted videos that the captors wish to deal with the Canadian, U.S. and Afghan governments. If there was anything that we had the power to do to be able to hold our children and grandchildren again, we would be doing it. Sadly, we don’t think this is the case and we are left to rely on others.”
It is unclear if the change in U.S. administration has had any impact on negotiations for the couple’s release, or those of other Americans held. The SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity, quoted an “Afghan Taliban correspondent” named Abdullah al-Wazir claiming on Jan. 30 that a deal was being discussed for a “prisoner swap” for the couple.
Joseph Pickerill, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, said he could not talk about the case or Ottawa’s role in any negotiations. “The Government of Canada’s first priority is always the safety and security of its citizens. For this reason, we cannot comment on operational matters,” he wrote in an email Monday.
The impact of Boyle’s kidnap was highlighted in December as part of Held Hostage, an eight-part Toronto Star investigation that exposed a decade-long pattern of neglect in how Ottawa responds to families with loved ones abducted abroad.
But unlike almost all other Canadian cases since 9/11, the Boyle/Coleman saga has played out as an agonizing tale of two countries, with U.S. authorities asserting a dominant role by dint of America’s deeper military, diplomatic and intelligence reach in Afghanistan.
Both countries have long maintained a resolute stance against paying ransom — a stance that has been known to buckle for high-value hostages including soldiers and diplomats.
In June 2015, then-U.S. president Barack Obama dramatically shifted course after a summit with relatives of many of more than 80 Americans kidnapped since 9/11, announcing an overhaul of U.S. kidnap protocols, including an end to the threat of prosecution and the creation of a Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell to maximize the chances of safe return.
“These families have already suffered enough and they should never feel ignored or victimized by their own government,” Obama said in unveiling the protocols.
Many of Canada’s hostage families are agitating for comparable change in Ottawa. The Prime Minister’s Office signalled in December it may consider at the very least meeting with relatives and survivors of hostage-takings to hear their concerns directly.
On Monday, Kate Purchase, the director of communications in the Prime Minister’s Office, said “it continues to be something we are exploring, but I can’t confirm anything today.”
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