Former Taliban commander sentenced to 42 years in prison for killings of US soldiers and journalists’ kidnappings | CNN Politics

A former Taliban commander was sentenced to 42 years in prison on Tuesday for crimes including kidnapping a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and providing support that led to the deaths of three American soldiers. Haji Najibullah’s sentencing capped a daylong proceeding in Manhattan federal court that featured a dramatic few moments when the reporter, David Rohde, faced Najibullah and described how Najibullah took part in the abduction of him and two other men in 2008 in Afghanistan but was now “refusing to take responsibility as I look at him today.” Rohde, who is currently an MS NOW national security reporter and previously worked for The New York Times and other publications, told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that he was “surprised and disappointed” that Najibullah was trying to blame others and circumstances for his role in the kidnapping of Rohde, another journalist and a driver. The men were held for more than seven months before making a dramatic escape from a Taliban-controlled compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas. In April 2025, Najibullah pleaded guilty to providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to take hostages. The bearded Najibullah,