A Fantastic Read!

This article is a page turner (actually more like a web-page turner), but the bottom-line is that the article, Held by the Taliban: 7 months, 10 days in captivity- Part I by David Rohde, is absolutely captivating. The article centers around Rohde's time as a Taliban hostage in Afghanistan. Rohde's was doing research on the Taliban for a book he was writing on the people of Afghanistan; He believed that an interview with the Taliban would make the book as impartial as possible. So, he had an interview scheduled with a Taliban commander, but much to his dismay, the commander is not who he met. While driving to the meeting site, Rohde's and his two colleagues were captured and held. The Taliban would constantly move them from location to location for 'security purposes.' Then on one night, they moved deep into the mountains and as the sun rose to greet the new day, they realized they were heading for a major Taliban headquarters. This was only the first part in a five part series, but I can honestly say that I am excited to read the rest.

Rohde's reporting was very detailed considering the fact that he had neither paper or pen to document his time. He fully acknowledged the likeliness of error in his reporting, but I felt that throughout the article, the characters were diverse enough that each had a memorable attribute about them. Rohde's article felt very unbiased. He was able to see the good as well as the bad that existed in some of his captors, and his time with them allowed a better understanding of their purpose. There was an abrupt transition when he abruptly moved from the moment of his escape to a recap of how he came to be in his current situation, but the article was captivating. I even caught myself holding my breath, because Rohde's tied in so much suspense and drama. There were tears and laughter, and it was an emotional bath in the guise of a newspaper article.