Taliban Denies Kidnapping of New York Times Reporter Rohde and Claims Responsibility for the Rocket Attacks on Bagram

41 year-old Pulitzer Prize investigative reporter, David Rohde, is reportedly reunited with his wife in Dubai after spending an exhausting 7 months in captivity by the Taliban. Rohde and Rohde’s assistant, Tahir Ludin, climbed over the wall of a Taliban compound late Friday, where they were being held in a region of Pakistan.

The two men were brought to safety by a Pakistani Army Scout who they flagged down following their escape. The Army Scout brought the two men to a nearby army base which secured their escape. Rohde and Ludin were then flown to a U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan. Yesterday, Rohde left Afghanistan for Dubai where he met his wife, who he married just two months prior to his capture.

Early reports reveal rare rocket attacks on the U.S. military base in Bagram where Rohde had been secured by the U.S. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on the military base.

On November 10th of last year, Rohde and Ludin were kidnapped by Taliban militants along with a third man, driver and interpreter, Asadullah Mangal, who did not escape with Rohde and Ludin Friday. Rohde had traveled to Afghanistan, not on assignment for the New York Times but to write a book about the history of American involvement in Afghanistan. Rohde’s assistant Tahir Lundin, arranged the interview between Rohde and the Taliban. It was during that arranged meeting when the three men were abducted and reportedly imprisoned in a Afghan mountain community before being brought to Pakistan.

Although Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claims responsibility for the rocket attacks on Bagram, he said that the, “Taliban had no involvement in the kidnapping of Rohde and didn’t know anything about his escape”.

Rohde is no amateur to taking risks for his reporting. Prior to his employment as a reporter for The New York Times, Rohde was an investigative reporter for The Christian Science Monitor where he won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1996. His award-winning investigation revealed the Srebrencia Massacre wherein Rohde exposed the genocide of 8,000 Muslim men. Srebrenica, a small salt mining mountain town in Bosnia, was found to have been the site of one of the worst human rights abuses ever recorded. Rohde was hailed as a hero for his report of this story which also included photos of mass graves and bones, evidencing the genocide. However, this came at a cost for Rohde who was captured by Serbian officials and interrogated for ten days accused of being a spy.

Mangal, Rohde’s driver who did not escape, has two children. Tahir Ludin was reportedly an English teacher before he began work in Kabul to help Western journalists arrange meetings with the Taliban.

The New York Times has been criticized for its failure to expose and publicize the kidnapping of Rohde, which they kept secret reportedly due to threats by the Taliban. The New York Times’ executive editor said that, “We agonized over it”. Who criticize The New York Times’ failure to publicize the story, accused the newspaper of wanting the exclusive scoop on Rohde’ abduction and escape. Even though Rohde was not on assignment for The New York Times when captured in Afghanistan, The New York Times reportedly paid Rohde’s usual salary to his family during the seven-month period of his detainment by the Taliban.