Former Taliban commander gets 42 years in prison in killings of U.S. soldiers, journalists’ kidnappings

A former Taliban commander was sentenced to 42 years in prison on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) for crimes including kidnapping a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

Haji Najibullah’s sentencing capped a day-long proceeding in Manhattan federal court that featured a dramatic few moments when the reporter, David Rohde, faced Najibullah and described how Najibullah took part in the abduction of him and two other men in 2008 in Afghanistan but was now “refusing to take responsibility as I look at him today”.

Mr. Rohde, who is MSNOW’s national security reporter and previously worked for The New York Times and other publications, told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that he was “surprised and disappointed” that Najibullah was trying to blame others and circumstances for his role in the kidnapping of Mr. Rohde, another journalist and a driver.

The men were held for more than seven months before making a dramatic escape from a Taliban-controlled compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

In April 2025, Najibullah pleaded guilty to providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to take hostages.

The bearded Najibullah, 50, who wore a black skull cap in court Tuesday (June 9, 2026), admitted that he provided material support including weapons to the Taliban from 2007 to 2009, knowing it would be used to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Najibullah apologised to Mr. Rohde and his family, saying “what happened to him was terrible and I deeply regret my role in it”.

Standing at a lectern just feet from Najibullah, Mr. Rohde said it was Najibullah’s lies that led him to go to what he thought was an interview but what turned into an ambush.

“Hostage taking is a cruel and cowardly crime. Family members spend weeks and months thinking they have the power to save their loved one’s life,” Mr. Rohde said, noting it’s “an illusion” because families lack the leverage and vast sums needed to meet ransom demands.

Still, Mr. Rohde said, the pain he and those who know him have suffered is dwarfed by the deaths of three U.S. soldiers who were killed by Najibullah’s cohorts in a separate operation.

Three times, he named the soldiers as he spoke, becoming emotional about their deaths, the pain his family endured and his love for journalism.