--- title: Taliban Group's Hostages Didn't Know About Trump Presidency description: A Canadian man rescued after five years in captivity said he didn't believe his kidnappers when they told him Donald Trump was president canonical: https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-16T20:03:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:52:57.285Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hostage Held Captive by Taliban-Linked Group Didn't Believe Donald Trump Was President og:description: “It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious" og:url: https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7ba62332750a9b2/6988e22f656a3f4281bd21cf/joshua-boyle-haqqani-hostage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman, Patrick Boyle, Linda Boyle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hostage Held Captive by Taliban-Linked Group Didn't Believe Donald Trump Was President twitter:description: “It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7ba62332750a9b2/6988e22f656a3f4281bd21cf/joshua-boyle-haqqani-hostage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hostage Held Captive by Taliban-Linked Group Didn't Believe Donald Trump Was President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=764e3393-9cf9-4c65-827b-5811a8783b12&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 16, 2017 8:03 PM UTC  Joshua Boyle speaks to the media after arriving at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Oct. 13, 2017. Joshua Boyle speaks to the media after arriving at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Oct. 13, 2017. Nathan Denette—AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 16, 2017 8:03 PM UTC A [Canadian man](http://time.com/4982694/haqqani-network-afghanistan-kidnappers-killed-child/) who was rescued in Pakistan last week after [five years in captivity](http://time.com/4979397/caitlan-coleman-joshua-boyle-haqqani-taliban/) said he [initially didn’t believe](https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/14/after-a-lifetime-in-captivity-the-children-of-joshua-boyle-and-caitlan-coleman-begin-to-heal.html) his kidnappers when they told him Donald Trump was president of the United States. “It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious,” Joshua Boyle said in a recent [interview with the Toronto _Star_](https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/14/after-a-lifetime-in-captivity-the-children-of-joshua-boyle-and-caitlan-coleman-begin-to-heal.html). Boyle and his American wife, [Caitlan Coleman](http://time.com/4979397/caitlan-coleman-joshua-boyle-haqqani-taliban/), were held hostage by a Taliban-linked group for five years with their three young children, who were born in captivity. The couple was abducted in 2012 by the Haqqani network while they were traveling in Afghanistan. Boyle told the _Star_ that he didn’t know [Justin Trudeau](http://time.com/4952822/justin-trudeau-canada-indigenous-peoples/) was the Canadian prime minister until he was released either, and he only learned Trump was the U.S. president when he was forced to make a “proof-of-life” video. For now, Boyle said he and his family are trying to adjust to normal life back in Canada. “Obviously it will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home, to focus on edification and to try to regain some portion of the childhood that they have lost,” [he said in a statement after arriving in Toronto on Friday](https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/14/full-statement-from-freed-hostage-joshua-boyle-upon-his-return-to-canada.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/"},"headline":"Hostage Held Captive by Taliban-Linked Group Didn't Believe Donald Trump Was President","datePublished":"2017-10-16T20:03:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:52:57.285Z","description":"“It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious\"","url":"https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Pakistan","Afghanistan","Canada","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7ba62332750a9b2/6988e22f656a3f4281bd21cf/joshua-boyle-haqqani-hostage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7ba62332750a9b2/6988e22f656a3f4281bd21cf/joshua-boyle-haqqani-hostage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman, Patrick Boyle, Linda Boyle","caption":"Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman, Patrick Boyle, Linda Boyle","creditText":"Nathan Denette—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4984525/freed-hostage-donald-trump-presidency/","name":"Hostage Held Captive by Taliban-Linked Group Didn't Believe Donald Trump Was President"}}]}] ```