Family held captive by Taliban group released after 5 years in captivity
Joshua Boyle
U.S. officials said Pakistan accomplished the release of Caitlan Coleman of Stewartstown  Pennsylvania  and her husband  Canadian Joshua Boyle  who were abducted and held by the Haqqani network  which has ties to the Taliban and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.
Bill Gorman / AP A photograph of  Canadian citizen Joshua Boyle and American citizen Caitlan Coleman  who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012   held by  their  family members in Stewartstown  Pa.  in 2014. A photograph of  Canadian citizen Joshua Boyle and American citizen Caitlan Coleman  who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012   held by  their  family members in Stewartstown  Pa.  in 2014. (Bill Gorman / AP) (Bill Gorman / AP)
A U.S. military official said that a military hostage team had flown to Pakistan Wednesday  prepared to fly the family out. The team did a preliminary health assessment of the family and had a transport plane ready to go. But sometime after daybreak there  as the family members were walking to the plane   Boyle  said  he  did not want to board.
Another U.S. official said  Boyle  was nervous about being in "custody" given  his  background.
 Boyle  was once married to Zaynab Khadr  the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a late senior al-Qaida financier. Her father  Ahmed Said Khadr  and the family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy.
Officials had discounted any link between that background and  Boyle 's capture  with one official describing it in 2014 as a "horrible coincidence."
The Toronto Star reported that  Boyle  spoke to  his  parents after  his  release. " Josh  said  he  was doing pretty well for someone who has spent the last five years in an underground prison "  his  father told the paper.
The release came together rapidly Wednesday. It happened nearly five years to the day after Coleman and  Boyle  lost touch with their families while traveling in a mountainous region near the Afghan capital of Kabul.
The couple set off in the summer 2012 for a journey that took them to Russia  the central Asian countries of Kazakhstan  Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan  and then to Afghanistan. Coleman's parents last heard from their son-in-law on Oct. 8  2012  from an internet cafe in what  Boyle  described as an "unsafe" part of Afghanistan.
 Boyle 's parents say their son told them in a letter that he and his wife tried to protect the children by pretending their signs of captivity were part of a game being played with guards.
U.S. officials said Pakistan accomplished the release of Caitlan Coleman of Stewartstown  Pennsylvania  and her husband  Canadian  [TGT]   who were abducted and held by the Haqqani network  which has ties to the Taliban and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.
Bill Gorman / AP A photograph of  Canadian citizen  [TGT]  and American citizen Caitlan Coleman  who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012   held by  their  family members in Stewartstown  Pa.  in 2014. A photograph of  Canadian citizen  [TGT]  and American citizen Caitlan Coleman  who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012   held by  their  family members in Stewartstown  Pa.  in 2014. (Bill Gorman / AP) (Bill Gorman / AP)
A U.S. military official said that a military hostage team had flown to Pakistan Wednesday  prepared to fly the family out. The team did a preliminary health assessment of the family and had a transport plane ready to go. But sometime after daybreak there  as the family members were walking to the plane   Boyle  said  he  did not want to board.
Another U.S. official said  Boyle  was nervous about being in "custody" given  his  background.
 Boyle  was once married to Zaynab Khadr  the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a late senior al-Qaida financier. Her father  Ahmed Said Khadr  and the family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy.
Officials had discounted any link between that background and  Boyle 's capture  with one official describing it in 2014 as a "horrible coincidence."
The Toronto Star reported that  Boyle  spoke to  his  parents after  his  release. " Josh  said  he  was doing pretty well for someone who has spent the last five years in an underground prison "  his  father told the paper.
The release came together rapidly Wednesday. It happened nearly five years to the day after Coleman and  Boyle  lost touch with their families while traveling in a mountainous region near the Afghan capital of Kabul.
The couple set off in the summer 2012 for a journey that took them to Russia  the central Asian countries of Kazakhstan  Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan  and then to Afghanistan. Coleman's parents last heard from their son-in-law on Oct. 8  2012  from an internet cafe in what  Boyle  described as an "unsafe" part of Afghanistan.
 Boyle 's parents say their son told them in a letter that he and his wife tried to protect the children by pretending their signs of captivity were part of a game being played with guards.