Joshua Boyle, family arrive in Canada from Pakistan

Toronto, Oct 14: A Canadian man, his American wife and their three children have arrived in Canada after being held captive in Afghanistan by a Taliban-affiliated group for five years, Fox News has reported. Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman and their children born during captivity had left Pakistan on a commercial flight after Boyle reportedly balked at taking a US plane out of Pakistan, fearing that his background could land him in the American detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Boyle was previously married to the sister of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured in 2002 in a firefight at an Al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan. The US Justice Department said neither Boyle nor Coleman is wanted for any federal crime. The family landed in Toronto Friday night on an Air Canada flight from London. US State Department officials were on the plane with them. The family was able to leave from the plane with their escorts before the rest of the passengers. THe family was rescued on Thursday after their captors moved them across the border to Pakistan from Afghanistan. US officials supplied the intelligence used to facilitate the release, Pakistan said. Shortly before the family landed in Canada Friday night, President Trump tweeted that the US was "starting to develop a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders." "I want to thank them for their cooperation on many fronts," Trump added. Boyle and Coleman were kidnapped in October 2012 while on a backpacking trip that took them to Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and then to Afghanistan. All three of their children were born in captivity. US officials have said that several other Americans are being held by militant groups in Afghanistan or Pakistan. UNI