Rescued Canadian man could not believe Donald Trump was US president

They rescued couple had also been unaware that Justin Trudeau was the prime minister of Canada

Joshua Boyle, the Canadian man rescued from Taliban last week thought his captors were joking when they told him Donald Trump had been elected as the president of the United States.

For five years and one day, Boyle along with his wife Caitlin Coleman and children- all born in captivity- were held by the Haqqani network, the leader of which is the Afghan Taliban’s deputy head.



Boyle and Caitlin did not have access to any information from the outside world while in captivity. For instance, they had been unaware that Justin Trudeau was the prime minister of Canada until they were rescued.

When Boyle was made to participate in a ‘proof-of-life’ video, he was told by one of his captors that Donald Trump was the president of the US. Boyle initially thought the comment was a joke.

"It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious," Boyle told the the Toronto Star.

The couple was kidnapped backpacking in Afghanistan late in 2012. Coleman was pregnant at that time and the duo had two more children while in captivity.  The family was rescued by Pakistani forces working off actionable intelligence provided by the US. Several kidnappers were killed during the operation and a few escaped.

Boyle has a harsh opinion about his abductors, calling the Haqqani "people who have no relationships in life that are not purely mercenary."

"They have no real friends, only cohorts. They have no wives, children. Those we met who were not orphans spoke of hating their parents," he added.



He and his family were brutally treated by the militants, and Boyle calls for his kidnappers to be brought to justice.

The same group – the Haqqani network – was also responsible for the abduction of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl after he mysteriously walked off from his unit. Bergdahl, who was held by the kidnappers for five years, was freed after being traded for five top Afghan Taliban commanders by the US government. Bergdahl pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior on Monday.

This story originally appeared on Newsweek.