| American Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle who are being held hostage by the Taliban. (CBS NEWS) |
Taliban terrorists intends to kill an American hostage, her husband and their two babies, born in captivity, unless the Afghanistan governments stops executing extremist prisoners, according to a chilling video released Tuesday.
In the clip, Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, make likely coerced statements begging their own governments to pressure Afghanistan into stopping its killings of captured Taliban terrorists.
“I know this must be very terrifying and horrifying for my family to hear that these men are willing to go to these lengths, but they are,” said Coleman, draped in a black headscarf.
Boyle said their Taliban captors are “are terrified of the thought of their own mortality approaching” and plan to murder him, Coleman and their two small children.
The State Department said Tuesday it is evaluating the video, although it has not yet been verified. It’s not clear exactly when or where it was shot.
The couple set off for an around-the-world journey in 2012, stopping in Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan before heading to Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant during the adventure trip.
Her parents, Jim and Lyn Coleman, last heard from their son-in-law on Oct. 8, 2012, from an internet cafe in what Josh described as an “unsafe” part of Afghanistan.
The couple has appeared in several Taliban videos, although the newly released clip would be the first since 2013.
In pervious videos, Coleman said she has given birth to her first child while in the Taliban’s imprisonment. Her parents received a letter last November in which their daughter said she had given birth to a second child in captivity.
“I pray to hear from you again, to hear how everybody is doing,” the letter said.
In July, Jim Coleman, speaking to the online news service Circa News, issued a plea to top Taliban commanders to be “kind and merciful” and let the couple go.
“As a man, father and now grandfather, I am asking you to show mercy and release my daughter, her husband, and our beautiful grandchildren,” Jim Coleman said. “Please grant them an opportunity to continue their lives with us, and bring peace to their families.”