TORONTO—The parents of a Canadian man held hostage in Afghanistan say a recently released Taliban video of his family marks the first time they’ve seen the two grandchildren, who were born in captivity.
Canadian Joshua Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were kidnapped in 2012 while travelling in northern Afghanistan. In the video, they beg for their governments to intervene on their behalf. Coleman—sitting with two young children—urges governments on all sides to reach a deal to secure the family’s freedom.
Boyle’s parents, Patrick and Linda Boyle, said in statement Wednesday that the video is the first glimpse at the kids.
“It is an indescribable emotional sense one has watching a grandson making faces at the camera, while hearing our son’s leg chains clanging up and down on the floor as he tries to settle his son,” the Boyles said in a written statement. “It is unbelievable that they have had to shield their sons from their horrible reality for four years.”
