The father of the newly-freed American woman held in Afghanistan for 5 years lashes out at her husband, says bringing her there was 'unconscionable'
"Taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place, to me, and the kind of person I am, it's unconscionable," Jim Coleman told ABC News' "Good Morning America". He added that he doesn't understand why Boyle refused to board an American plane following the family's rescue by Pakistani soldiers.
"I don't know what five years in captivity would do to somebody, but if it were me and I saw a US aircraft and US soldiers, I'd be running for it," Coleman said.
The family did eventually board a flight from Islamabad, Pakistan to Toronto, Canada.
Some have speculated that Boyle was resistant to fly out of Pakistan with the US army because he was once married to Zaynab Khadr, whose brother Omar Khadr was a former Guantanamo detainee. The siblings' father, the late Ahmed Said Khadr, was close to Osama bin Laden himself, reports The Toronto Star. Authorities have ruled out any connection between Boyle's previous marriage and his current wife's capture in Afghanistan in 2012.
The couple was rescued by Pakistani forces in an operation in the border territories along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which used intelligence provided to Pakistan by the United States.
Coleman praised President Donald Trump for America's role in helping to free his daughter after Trump made comments in which he said he was hopeful about the future of the US-Pakistan relationship after their cooperation on the mission. The president had previously criticized the country for not doing enough to aid in the war against the Taliban.
Despite her husband's sharp words, Caitlan Coleman's mother Linda told "Good Morning America" she is overjoyed her daughter is coming home and described the first time she heard Caitlan's voice over the phone in five years.
"It was incredible, you know," Coleman said. "I've been waiting hear that voice for so long."