Pakistan - 'Horrible ordeal' over for Canadian man, family rescued after years in captivity

A Canadian man who was held hostage by the Taliban for years along with his American wife and three children has been freed.

Patrick Boyle confirmed with The Globe on Thursday morning the release of his son, Joshua Boyle, 34, his American wife Caitlan Coleman, 31, and their children. The couple disappeared almost exactly five years ago, around Oct. 10, 2012, in Wardak, an Afghan province about 100 kilometres west of the Pakistani border.

"I can confirm Josh and family have been freed and are all okay," Mr. Boyle said in an email to the Globe.

In a statement Thursday morning, Pakistan's High Commission in Ottawa said the country's army and Inter-Services Intelligence had recovered five Western hostages, including one Canadian, his American wife and their three children from terrorist custody. It did not name the hostages.

The statement said the hostages' whereabouts were being tracked by American intelligence agencies, who alerted Pakistan when they crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan on Wednesday, through the Kurram tribal area border. The hostages were recovered "safe and sound" and are being repatriated to their country of origin, the statement said.

Speaking to the Globe and Mail Thursday, High Commission spokesperson Nadeem Haider Kiani said there was no prisoner exchange or ransom paid for the hostages' release.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Canada Tariq Azim Khan congratulated Mr. Boyle on the release of his son and his family.

"I would like to congratulate you and your family on the good news. Your patience has finally paid off. I am glad is all over," Mr. Khan said in an email to Mr. Boyle, which was shared with the Globe and Mail.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the Canadian government is "greatly relieved" that Mr. Boyle, Ms. Coleman and their young children have been safely released. "Canada has been actively engaged with the governments of the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan and we thank them for their efforts, which have resulted in the release of Joshua, Caitlan and their children," Ms. Freeland said in a statement Thursday.

"Joshua, Caitlan, their children and the Boyle and Coleman families have endured a horrible ordeal over the past five years. We stand ready to support them as they begin their healing journey."

Ms. Coleman was pregnant when she was captured, and the couple had three children while in captivity. The family's current location is unclear; officials declined to say when the family planned to return to North America.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the rescue effort by the Pakistani military, calling the effort "a positive moment" for U.S.-Pakistan relations.

The U.S. and Pakistani governments "secured the release of the Boyle-Coleman family from captivity in Pakistan. Today they are free," Trump said in a statement released by the White House. "The Pakistani government's cooperation is a sign that it is honouring America's wishes for it to do more to provide security in the region."

Mr. Boyle and Ms. Coleman had been the object of previous attempts to negotiate their release. In 2013, a Pentagon group headed by a former special forces officer, Jason Amerine, was assigned to develop options to free a captive American soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Mr. Amerine, who is now retired, tried to include other hostages in his efforts, including Mr. Boyle, Ms. Coleman and another Canadian, Colin Rutherford, in a "one-for-seven" deal that would have swapped seven Westerners for one Taliban drug trafficker and warlord. "It looked like it was a viable course of option," Mr. Amerine said in an interview last year. However, he said, other branches of the U.S. government favoured other scenarios and eventually Sgt. Bergdahl was the only person released, in 2014, exchange for five Taliban detainees.

The other Canadian, Mr. Rutherford, was released in 2016. At the time, the Canadian government thanked the government of Qatar for intervening for his release.

This spring, Andrew Ellis, a former Canadian intelligence official who now works for a travel-security firm, wrote an essay in The Globe and Mail, urging the Canadian government to do more for captives.

In the piece, he told the story of how the couple were caught, and said government officials should not close the door on the possibility of a ransom being paid.