The father of freed Taliban hostage Caitlan Coleman has blamed her Canadian husband for her kidnapping five years ago.
James Coleman said it was ‘unconscionable’ for son-in-law Joshua Boyle to take Caitlan to Kabul, Afghanistan, without telling either of their families when she was pregnant in 2012.
‘What I can say is taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place, to me, the kind of person that I am, is unconscionable,’ he told Good Morning America on Friday, a day after the pair were rescued along with the three children they had in captivity.
Coleman, who lives in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, also criticized Boyle, 34, for refusing to board a US military plane which was ready to take them home on Thursday.
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James Coleman, 71, said it was ‘unconscionable’ that his son-in-law took his daughter to Afghanistan in 2012 when she was pregnant, a decision which resulted in their kidnapping
Caitlan Coleman’s mother on hearing daughter’s voice after she was freed from Taliban 5 years after being taken hostage: “It was incredible” pic.twitter.com/qrF7r0nH9d
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 13, 2017
Instead, the family insisted on traveling on a commercial flight with Canadian officials.
‘I don’t know what five years in captivity would do to somebody butif it were me ands I saw a US aircraft and us soldiers, I’d be running for it,’ he said.
He added that President Trump should be given credit for the family’s rescue which was carried out by Pakistani troops at the behest of US intelligence officers.
On Thursday night, Boyle told The Toronto Star in a telephone interview that he and his family would return to Canada to start their new life.
‘We’re looking forward to a new lease on life, to use an overused idiom, and restarting and being able to build a sanctuary for our children and our family in North America,’ he said.
He also spoke of the ‘betrayal’ they had experienced over the last five years which he said left him ‘psychologically and physically shattered’.
Caitlan Coleman, 31, and Joshua Boyle, 34, were rescued in Pakistan on Wednesday along with their three young children, two of whom are pictured above in a 2016 hostage video. Boyle then refused to board a US military plane which would have brought them home
Instead, the family is now on their way back to Canada, where his parents Linda and Patrick (above in Ontario on Thursday) live
Canadian officials have said nothing to celebrate his release since it was announced on Thursday morning.
Coleman’s family in Pennsylvania say President Trump deserves full credit for orchestrating their rescue
By contrast, President Trump, his Chief of Staff and the State Department have all spoken of their relief that the family have been freed.
Trump has described the rescue as a sign of improved relations between Pakistan and the US.
Pakistani troops were mobilized on Wednesday night after receiving intelligence from US agencies that the family were being moved by their captors.
They intercepted their vehicle in Kurram, which is 165 miles across the border from Kabul, and found the family in the trunk of the car.
Accounts vary on how long they had been in the country. Pakistani officials say they only crossed over from Afghanistan that night whereas US and Canadian officials said they had been in the country for years.
Trump has long accused Pakistan’s government of fostering and enabling terrorist organizations such as the Haqqani network.
Coleman was five months pregnant when her husband took her to Afghanistan in 2012. They are pictured before they departed on the trip
The couple was rescued on Wednesday night in Kurram in Pakistan which is near the Afghan border
Caitlan’s mother Lynda said it was ‘incredible’ to hear her daughter’s voice again after five years
Boyle’s parents expressed their gratitude to the US government along with Pakistan’s in a video on Thursday night. They also gave thanks to Canadian officials.
Coleman’s mother has not broached the politics surrounding her daughter’s rescue.
In an interview with GMA, she spoke only of the ‘incredible’ moment she heard her daughter’s voice for the first time in five years.
‘I’ve been waiting to hear that voice for so long. And then to hear her voice, and have it sound exactly like the last time I talked to her,’ she said.
Boyle’s parents in Ontario, Canada, say they look forward to welcoming the pair back to the country.
Coleman was five-months pregnant when she and her husband traveled to Afghanistan in 2012 for what they told relatives was a hiking vacation. They never mentioned their plans to go to Afghanistan before they left