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It was a story that generated headlines around the world. A young pregnant American woman Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle captured by the Taliban while hiking in war-torn Afghanistan. Grainy hostage videos posted online showing two of their young children born into captivity. And in 2017, the sudden release and return of a family of five to Canada, where a baffled public was eagerly awaiting an explanation.
It was a story that generated headlines around the world. A young pregnant American woman Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle captured by the Taliban while hiking in war-torn Afghanistan. Grainy hostage videos posted online showing two of their young children born into captivity. And in 2017, the sudden release and return of a family of five to Canada, where a baffled public was eagerly awaiting an explanation.
But in the months following their liberation, they struggled to answer key questions – Why had a pregnant couple travelled to a dangerous region of Afghanistan, and why did they continue to have children even after they were taken prisoner there? – that had confounded even the closest observers of their case. Until now.
Having finally fled from Canada to the United States with her four young children, Coleman can finally say what many previously suspected – that she was a prisoner not only to Islamic militants, but also to her own husband. In an exclusive interview airing tonight on "Nightline," Coleman told ABC News that Boyle was a Taliban sympathizer, and he gave her “no choice” but to accompany him to Afghanistan, where he subjected her to years of “extreme” abuse during their captivity in Pakistan.
“Not only was it psychological, it was physical, it was sexual," Coleman told ABC News. "I was actually more afraid of him than of the captors."
Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m. ET