US judge sentences ex-Taliban commander to 42 years in jail

NEW YORK: A former Afghan Taliban commander charged by the United States with abducting a journalist and supporting fighters who killed American troops in 2008 was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 years in prison.

Haji Najibullah, 50, was accused by US prosecutors of kidnapping an American journalist, identified as New York Times journalist David Rohde, and two Afghan civilians.

He was also charged with the deaths of three US soldiers and an Afghan interpreter in an attack by forces under his command in June 2008. Arrested in Ukraine, he was extradited to the United States in 2020.

He pleaded guilty last year to hostage taking and providing material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, according to a Justice Department statement. “Those who harm Americans and engage in acts of terrorism will be hunted down and brought to justice, no matter how long it takes,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement.

Rohde was kidnapped in Afghanistan in November 2008, along with a translator and a driver. According to the Times, which managed to keep the news of his kidnapping secret so as not to endanger him, Rohde managed to escape from his captors in June 2009.

Najibullah acted as a prominent Taliban commander and unofficial spokesperson in Afghanistan’s Wardak province, managing over 1,000 fighters near Kabul.

He confessed to orchestrating ambush-style attacks against US military convoys. His forces were directly responsible for a June 2008 attack that killed three US soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, as well as the downing of a military helicopter in October 2008.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2026