Judge Sentences Former Taliban Member to 42 Years for 2008 Kidnapping of Journalist, Rejecting Both Life Term and 18-Year Request

M. on Monday wearing khaki jail garb and a black skullcap. David Rohde entered the same courtroom approximately 10 minutes later.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla sentenced Najibullah to 42 years in prison. Najibullah answered “Yes, I understand” when the judge asked if he understood the sentence. Najibullah pleaded guilty on 25 April 2025 to hostage taking and providing material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death.

U.S. service members, leading to their deaths. Defense attorney Andrew Dalack requested an 18-year sentence.

Prosecutors requested a life sentence. Najibullah, through a Pashto translator, stated he “deeply” regretted his role in Rohde’s kidnapping. ” He stated: “It was a huge mistake to go to the interview.

M. on 10 November 2008 for a planned interview. Najibullah used one of the hostages’ mobile phones to call the New York Times Kabul bureau and stated he was holding them captive because they were spies for coalition forces.

The men were held for seven months. Rohde and his translator escaped on 9 June 2009 by scaling a compound wall using a car tow rope. Rohde left a letter at the Times’s Kabul bureau stating: “If I get kidnapped don’t publicize it.

He left a note for his wife instructing her to use money from his book advance for ransom. Najibullah was born in Afghanistan and raised during the Russian occupation.

U.S. Began war in Afghanistan. He joined the Taliban upon returning to Afghanistan. His brother was killed by the Taliban. Rohde co-authored the book A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides with his wife.