Kidnapped son of former Pakistani leader is rescued by U.S. and Afghan forces

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan —  U.S. Special Operations forces and Afghan commandos rescued the kidnapped son of a former Pakistani leader Tuesday in a joint counterterrorism operation in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

There were few details of the raid, the latest instance of U.S. troops involved in combat operations in Afghanistan.

Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, was rescued from the captivity of an Al Qaeda cell in the eastern province of Paktika, said Tawab Gursang, spokesman for Afghanistan’s national security council. Unidentified gunmen kidnapped Gilani in May 2013 from Multan, in the southern Punjab province. Gilani said he received word of his son’s rescue when he arrived in the Pakistan-controlled portion of the disputed Kashmir territory.

“I can’t wait to meet him. My mother is overwhelmed with emotion. I cannot explain in words how traumatic the three years were for our family,” Ali Musa Gilani, brother of the former prisoner, told reporters.

Four “enemy combatants” were killed during the operation, the U.S. military in Afghanistan said in a statement. No U.S. or Afghan personnel were harmed, the statement said.

The operation was launched “after evidence of terrorist activity was confirmed,” the military said, suggesting that rescuing Gilani was not the objective of the raid. Gilani was handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, his father said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani praised Afghan forces’ “increasing capability in conducting successful anti-terror and humanitarian operations.”

Approximately 9,800 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, where their mission is focused on training and advising Afghan forces. The mission as defined by the White House allows for limited U.S. combat in counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

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But as the Afghans have struggled in recent months against a determined Taliban-led insurgency, U.S. troops, particularly Special Operations commandos, have increasingly been involved in combat.

In September and October, Army Green Berets and other U.S. personnel were deployed to northern and southern Afghanistan to help Afghan forces retake territory lost to insurgents. In the northern city of Kunduz, which was briefly seized by Taliban fighters, U.S. forces went into the city along with Afghan troops and sustained casualties. U.S. troops also were on the ground when an American air strike mistakenly hit a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 42 people inside.

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Jawad is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Bengali reported from Jaipur, India. Special correspondent special Haroon Janjua contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.

UPDATES:

10:25 a.m.: This story was updated with comment from Gilani’s family members.

This story was originally published at 9:15 a.m.