David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban, escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr. Rohde, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while he was researching a book. Mr. Rohde was part of The Times’s reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize this spring for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan last year.

Mr. Rohde told his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, that Mr. Ludin joined him in climbing over the wall of a compound where they were being held in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan. They found a Pakistani Army scout, who led them to a nearby army base, and on Saturday they were flown to the American military base in Bagram, Afghanistan…

Until now, the kidnapping has been kept quiet by The Times and other media organizations out of concern for the men’s safety…

Both Mr. Keller and Mr. Rohde’s family declined to discuss details of the efforts to free the captives, except to say that no ransom money was paid and no Taliban or other prisoners were released.

Kidnapping, tragically, is a flourishing industry in much of the world,” Mr. Keller said. “As other victims have told us, discussing your strategy just offers guidance for future kidnappers.”

RTFA. Long, detailed account – not only of this adventure; but, of David Rohde’s dedication to good, traditional journalism. He’s had no shortage of despots and murderers to cover from Bosnia to Afghanistan.




  1. Nimby says:

    There’s something fishy … errr … sea kittenish about this story.

  2. snake doctor says:

    Wasn’t there a unit episode like this?

  3. faxon says:

    Oh. Good. Now he has a much better book. Fool.

  4. Mr. Fusion says:

    #3, Ayatollah Alphie,

    You are an effen jerk!!!

    The man and his friend were held for seven months and finally escapes. All you cab write is that “They probably sent him away”.

    The man is a reporter. In case you don’t know what that means, it is a person who actually goes out into the world and finds out what is happening. FOX SPEWS doesn’t have any.

    Again, and you wonder why everyone on this blog dislikes you.

  5. faxon says:

    #4
    NY Times…. The paper who had the reporter making up stories a few years back??? The paper that has never supported a single conservative idea in the last twenty years? THAT NY Times?

  6. Sea Lawyer says:

    #5, ideally, a “news” paper shouldn’t be actively supporting anybody’s ideas outside the editorial page.

  7. BillM says:

    Until now, the kidnapping has been kept quiet by The Times and other media organizations out of concern for the men’s safety…

    LOL. Is this the Times that would publish any info about US intell ops regardless of how sensitive the info? How many solders or agents were “outed”?

  8. Rick's Cafe says:

    #1
    sea-kittenish….such a mental visual! LOL!!

  9. Jägermeister says:

    Good for him. One of the last real reporters.

  10. moss says:

    I know #10 and a few others understand about real reporting. As for the trolls, well – understanding would require reading. Reading might prompt thinking.

    A couple of handicaps they’re not likely to overcome.

  11. Chris Mac says:

    #1 – yer right.. what american would run away from free room and board these days?!?

  12. Glenn E. says:

    I don’t know… I’m tempted to suspect he was a CIA plant, all along. And that’s REALLY why his capture was kept a secret. Writing a book? I doubt it. By the time he gets in published, who will care?

  13. eaze says:

    this story is complete bs.

  14. Dallas says:

    Great for them and if fathers, a wonderful father Day.

    Very happy to have them with their families.

  15. FlatAffect says:

    #16

    When was the last time you were in harm’s way?

    By the way, sitting fat and happy in front of a half dozen Big Macs doesn’t count.

  16. Mr. Fusion says:

    #18, Flat,

    Ayatollah Alphie is in harm’s way every time he takes his life in his hands and attends church. All those atheists out there just a gunnen’ for him.

  17. Mr. Fusion says:

    #16 / 17, Ayatollah Alphie,

    David Stephenson Rohde (born 1967) is an American investigative journalist for The New York Times. From July 2002 to December 2004, he was co-chief of the Times ‘s South Asia bureau, based in New Delhi[1]. While a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his coverage of the Srebrenica massacre. He shared a second Pulitzer Prize for Times 2008 team coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan.[2]

    Rohde was kidnapped by the Taliban in November, 2008, but managed to escape in June 2009 after seven months in captivity.[2]

    AA, you are such a steooopid person. Ignorant, rude, hypocritical, blind, selfish, arrogant, and self absorbed among other less than desirable traits. The best way to sum you up to refer to you as the external extension of the colon. And I don’t mean sphincter.

  18. FlatAffect says:

    Oh, that’s OK, #19 Mr. Fusion,

    Alphie agrees with me, we should all be allowed to kill people we don’t like, just like Obama peronally killed those totally innocent, Somali teenage pirates who were just tending to their own personal business.

    He agrees we should all be allowed to kill people we don’t like, without Miranda or a trial.

    He’s so open-minded, I can hardly believe it, considering the number of people who don’t like HIM!

    🙂

  19. Mr. Fusion says:

    RE #20

    I forgot to post a link. If anyone is interested,

    http://tinyurl.com/lsbwhd

  20. sac says:

    Happy Fathers Day everyone.

    Alphie, leaving it in your hand does not qualify as being a father.

  21. sac says:

    The right takes their news reporting seriously.

  22. MikeN says:

    The paper that reveled in revealing national security secrets when Bush was president, asked other news outlets to keep this kidnapping a secret.

  23. sac says:

    #21, Flat,

    Good point.

    Now if I was an Alphie type of guy I would have that point referring to the shape of Alphie’s head, but since I’m not, …

  24. Mr. Fusion, says:

    #25, Lyin’ Mike,

    Say what? Since when has breaking the law been a national secret?

    We should be happy that the light of day has been shone on such crap and those who endanger our country. Shame on all those who try to defile America’s good name.

  25. Jägermeister says:

    #19 – Mr. Fusion – Ayatollah Alphie is in harm’s way every time he takes his life in his hands and attends church.

    You never know when the guy beside you is going to pull out his gun and start killing the other churchgoers.

  26. Cap'nKangaroo says:

    Does anyone remember how long the NY Times sat on the story of the NSA listening to our calls. I believe it was close to a year. Or how Dick “Tricky” Cheney totally owned the NY Times leading up to the invasion of Iraq by leaking half truths and innuendo to the NY Times reporter in the middle of the week and then appear on the Sunday news shows to comment on the “leaks”. Usually saying something to the affect that the leak wasn’t the half of it.

    So cut the crap about the “liberal” NY Times. In my opinion, even their editorial page seems to me to be closer to the middle than to the left. If you want to be infuriated with a more left leaning paper, try The Washington Post. Or better yet, listen to the Pacifica Radio Network. Obama is a right wing nutjob compared to them.


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