David Rohde has compiled a detailed account of his exploits in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a Taliban hostage. His story is filled with so many twists and turns that you doubt its validity at times. He is shuttled from house to house and goes deeper into the lives of the Taliban than he EVER planned on going. I began to discuss this piece in an earlier blog after reading the first part of his five part series titled Held by the Taliban: A Times Reporter's Account, but after finishing Parts II-IV, I can say that this article is amazingly captivating. In one portion, he discovers that the Taliban commander that kidnapped him is actually the same one who had agreed to be interviewed by him and in another segment, they had him watch previously recorded videos of suicide bombers preparing for their attacks and the ritual beheading of a previous hostage.
The article was enlightening and Rohde's deserves credit for being able to recall the details of his exploits. Rohde's story is not written like a normal news article which sets it apart form the regular news. It is a feature article and we were instructed to steer clear of feature articles, but the fact that so much firsthand detail was included in this article makes it irresistible. The overall pull of the article is the suspense. From the first part in the series, we are told they escaped but we have yet to be given details on the means to that escape. It's like Rohde's has lit a firecracker and we are just waiting for it to go off.
No comments:
Post a Comment