A former Taliban commander has been sentenced to 42 years in prison for crimes including kidnapping a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Haji Najibullah's sentencing capped a daylong proceeding in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday 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 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.
