US evaluating Taliban video of kidnapped couple, previously unseen since 2013

The State Department says it’s evaluating a video released by the Afghan Taliban showing a Canadian man and his American wife warning that their Afghan captors will kill them and their children unless the Kabul government ends its executions of Taliban prisoners.

The video, which has not been independently verified, shows Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012, calling on Canada and the United States to pressure the Afghan government into changing its policy on executing captured Taliban prisoners.

Coleman has told her family that she gave birth to two children in captivity.

“I would tell you that the video is still being examined for its validity,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday, in response to a question at his daily briefing. “We remain concerned, obviously, about the welfare of Caitlan and her family, and we continue to urge for their immediate release on humanitarian grounds.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the video was not new and had in fact been recorded in 2015. Mujahid said Boyle and Coleman and their two children remain in captivity but in good health.

The date of the recording could not be verified. However, even if the video was recorded in 2015, it would mark the first time the couple has appeared in a video since 2013.

The footage, which was uploaded Tuesday on YouTube, came to public attention through the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online.