Ever heard of a woman named Caitlin Coleman? I hadn't until I got hooked on this podcast called "Serial." We need to bring her home and bring her home now.
Caitlin Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle decided to go on an adventure trip back in 2012, wanting to travel to Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. The couple had met online, and Caitlin was pregnant. However in 2012 in Afghanistan, Caitlin and her husband were abducted by the Taliban.
That means four years ago, a pregnant American mother was abducted and basically no one knew about it.
It also means Coleman gave birth in captivity.
If you have read anything on the Bowe Bergdahl case, (think American soldier who is accused of going AWOL in Afghanistan and then was captured by the Taliban) you know that captivity is rough and not a place you would want to be in for any amount of time. From not permitting you to ever see sunlight, to keeping you locked in a physical cage, to cutting you with razor blades, I don't want to imagine what is/has been done to a women in captivity, let alone a child.
However we need to spread her name for a different reason; to just get her home. The U.S. Government is not doing enough to get these hostages home, and that can be seen time and time again. Not to beat a dead horse but Bowe Bergdahl is a prime example of this inefficiently. For months after the original disappearance of Bergdahl, the first step for the military was just to send constant groups/platoons of soldiers in to get him. So many American lives were put at risk and relations between Afghani people and the US got worse and worse. Their efforts gained nothing except for tired, overworked soldiers who got angrier and angrier at Bergdahl for seemingly walking away from his post and putting so many soldiers' lives at risk.
One important thing to note is that Coleman and her family are thought to be held in Pakistan. The U.S. is, for lack of a better term, "friends" with Pakistan right now. Meaning that the channels they could go through in unfriendly Afghanistan are drastically different than the ones they could go through in Pakistan. But it seems like the Coleman case is just lost in a sea; no one touches it, no one changes it, and no one is trying to bring a family home.
The Haqqani Network, a group that operates closely with the Taliban is suspected of holding Coleman and her family in Pakistan, have released a few videos in which Coleman and her husband ask the American government for help. In the videos you can clearly see that Boyle has lot a scary substantial amount of weight and Coleman has to wear a burka. And as morbid as it sounds, the question that begs to be answered is whether or not their child survived birth without proper medical attention, and if that child has survived four years in captivity.
Four years. They have been imprisoned for four years. That means no normal meals for four years. No adequate healthcare for four years. Tortured for four years.
So what can you do? Start talking about. Bring it up to friends, talk about it with your family members, tweet about it. Have people know the name Caitlin Coleman. Want to take a step further? Talk to your congressmen and women. People have to know about this atrocity and it's time the US government does something effectively and quickly to change the pain that a family has to endure. Bring Caitlin home.
