Mr. Rohde, Mr. Ludin, who was assisting Mr. Rohde as an interpreter, and Mr. Mangal were abducted on Nov. 10, 2008, outside Kabul during a trip on which Mr. Rohde was to interview a Taliban commander in Logar Province, south of Kabul. Mr. Rohde has written that the commander he was to interview was called Abu Tayeb, which the indictment says was an alias used by Mr. Najibullah. Mr. Ludin said the commander had betrayed that trust by directly orchestrating the kidnapping. After their abduction, Mr. Rohde and the two other hostages, escorted by a half-dozen armed guards, were forced to hike across the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan, the indictment said. At one point, Mr. Najibullah ordered Mr. Rhode to call his wife in New York using a satellite phone, and another time, Mr. Najibullah recorded a video of Mr. Rohde begging for help while the barrel of a machine gun was pointed at his face, according to the indictment.

Source: New York Times October 28, 2020 17:52 UTC