Colin Rutherford
This article may be deleted soon. | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Colin Mackenzie Rutherford is a Canadians|Canadian who was held captive for six years by the Taliban after going to Afghanistan as a tourist to visit antiquities.[2] In October 2010 Rutherford traveled to Afghanistan to pursue an interest in the country's ancient civilizations. Police informed his family he had been captured on November 4, 2010. The Taliban made a video of Rutherford public in May 2011. ReleaseRutherford was freed on January 11, 2016—the fourteenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[3] Neither Stephane Dion, Canada's new Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)|Minister of Foreign Affair, or Rutherford's mother, Wendy, agreed to an interview on the day of Rutherford's release. But his brother Brian shared his happiness, via email. Dion's press release thanked the government of Qatar for their help. In June 2015, retired Green Berets|Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine testified before the United States Senate United States Senate Armed Forces Committee|Armed Forces Committee about the American military's failure to free hostages in Afghanistan.[4] Amerine told Congress he had prepared a rescue plan for Rutherford, and American Kidnapping of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman|Caitlin Coleman and her Canadian husband Kidnapping of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman|Joshua Boyle. The National Post reported that Amerine said his rescue plan was "scuttled by U.S. government infighting". AftermathThree days after his release Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that Rutherford hadn't yet returned to Canada.[5] During his captivity experienced commentators had asserted that the Taliban had probably moved him to Pakistan's Tribal Areas, but the Taliban released in Ghazni province, and said that this is where he had been held. Trudeau, like Dion, thanked Qatar for their assistance.[5] Taliban spokesmen confirmed that Qatar had played a role. The Taliban spokesmen said they had released Rutherford "on grounds of humanitarian sympathy and sublime Islamic ethics."[5] Yahoo News quoted comments from Christian Leuprecht, of Canada's Royal Military College of Canada|Royal Military College and Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University.[6] He suggested the Taliban had released Rutherford as a sign of good faith, in order to win a place at the peace talk table. He pointed out the brutal way Daesh executes prisoners, and asserted the Taliban wanted to remind those negotiating peace that they weren't brutal in the same way Daesh were.
Rough workReferences
|