{"id":13348,"date":"2026-06-09T22:53:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=13348"},"modified":"2026-06-09T22:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:53:50","slug":"us-journalist-david-rohde-rips-cowardly-taliban-commander-whos-sentenced-to-42-years-for-kidnapping-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=13348","title":{"rendered":"US journalist David Rohde rips &#8216;cowardly&#8217; Taliban commander &#8212; who&#8217;s sentenced to 42 years for kidnapping him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins 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<script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist held hostage by the Taliban for months in Afghanistan shot a death glare at his captor in Manhattan court Monday \u2014 before the terrorist was slapped with a 42-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHostage taking is a cowardly and cruel crime,\u201d said David Rohde, as he stared down ex-Taliban commander Haji Najibullah, who pleaded guilty in April to kidnapping the veteran reporter at gunpoint in Kabul in November 2008 after luring the journalist with the promise of sitting down for an interview.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>David Rohde confronted his captor Haji Najibullah in court on Tuesday. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Concordia Summit<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s refusing to take responsibility for his actions as I look at him right now,\u201d Rohde added, as Najibullah, 50, stared straight ahead, not making eye contact with his victim from his seat at the defense table.<\/p>\n<p>Manhattan federal prosecutors had pushed for Najibullah to get a life sentence for allegedly abducting Rohde, his interpreter Asadullah Mangal and local reporter Tahir Ludin and ordering them to hike across the border to Pakistan, where they were held hostage through the winter.<\/p>\n<p>The trio\u2019s captors pointed machine guns to their heads while filming chilling hostage videos and demanding a\u00a0multimillion-dollar ransom\u00a0from Rohde\u2019s family \u2014 along with the release of Taliban prisoners \u2014 in exchange for their freedom, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t help me, I will die,\u201d Rohde \u2014 who had been employed by the New York Times when he was abducted \u2014 said in one harrowing 2009 video cited by the feds.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors also accused Najibullah of playing a role in a slew of Taliban attacks, including the June 2008 ambush of a US convoy that killed three American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe reveled in the targeted killings of American service members,\u201d prosecutor David Robles said Tuesday, calling Najibullah\u2019s conduct \u201ccallous, brazen and depraved.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Najibullah, here sketched at an earlier court proceeding, was sentenced to 42 years in prison. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After seven months and 10 days in captivity, Rohde and Ludin daringly escaped after using a rope to lift themselves out of the Taliban compound as their tormentors slept, Rohde wrote in his 2010 book, \u201cA Rope and a Prayer: The Story of a Kidnapping.\u201d Mangal escaped five weeks later.<\/p>\n<p>Wearing a tan jail-issued jumpsuit, Najibullah gave a soft-spoken attempt at an apology to Rohde and his family Tuesday afternoon, as he read from a prepared statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to him was terrible, and I deeply regret my role in it,\u201d he told the court through an interpreter.<\/p>\n<p>Najibullah, who has been held without bail since his arrest in October 2020, also claimed that the US war on Afghanistan had left him \u201cno choice\u201d but to become a Taliban member. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Rohde was kidnapped by the Taliban in November 2008. <span class=\"credit\">Steven Hirsch for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Other Taliban terrorists were furious that he had allowed Rohde to escape, and later killed Najibullah\u2019s brother as punishment, he added.<\/p>\n<p>His court-appointed federal defender, Andrew Dalack, had urged Judge Katherine Folk Failla for leniency, asking for an 18-year prison sentence for someone he denied was the \u201cmonster\u201d portrayed by the feds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a human being with a complicated story,\u201d Dalack told the court.<\/p>\n<p>The government has also not provided direct evidence that Najibullah was behind the fatal 2008 attack cited by prosecutors, the attorney argued.<\/p>\n<p>As he addressed the court, Rohde began to choke up as he ripped Najibullah for being a serial \u201cliar.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>First, the terrorist lied about the 2008 purported interview-turned-kidnapping, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rohde, who is now a national security reporter at MS NOW, then described the terrorist falsely claiming to fellow Taliban members that Rohde was a US \u201cspy\u201d rather than reveal the truth \u2014 that he was a journalist who had simply wanted to hear his story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder of being part of this profession,\u201d Rohde told the court, holding back tears.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 728px 160px; gap:2px; width:908px; background:#eee; padding:2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u901a\u680f\u9876\u90e8\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u6a2a\u5e45 908x258 \u8de8\u6574\u884c -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:258px; background:#ff6b6b; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114307\" data-width=\"908\" data-height=\"258\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114307});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u7b2c\u4e8c\u901a\u680f\uff1a728\u00d790 \u901a\u680f -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:90px; background:#4ecdc4; 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months in Afghanistan shot 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