After seven months of being held hostage by the Taliban, David Rohde returned to The New York Times on Thursday and, according to the CityRoom Blog, to perhaps the most sustained ovation ever heard in the paper’s newsroom.
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| David Rohde of The New York Times was welcomed by colleagues after his escape from Afghanistan. He is joined by his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, right, and his Afghan translator Tahir Ludin. |
The New York Times CityRoom blog reports that after seven months of being held hostage by the Taliban, David Rohde returned to The New York Times on Thursday and to perhaps the most sustained ovation ever heard in the paper’s newsroom.
Rohde, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, escaped from his captors two weeks ago, along with Tahir Ludin, an Afghan reporter who had served as his interpreter and escort.
In an intensely emotional moment, the two men walked into the Times newsroom to enormous waves of applause from scores of reporters and editors. At Mr. Rohde’s side was Kristen Mulvihill, his wife of only two months when he, Mr. Ludin and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, were abducted on Nov. 10 outside Kabul.
As the long ovation continued, Mr. Ludin wiped away tears. Some in the newsroom seemed near tears themselves. Many, maybe most, had not been aware of their colleagues’ ordeal during the months that it lasted. The newspaper did not report on the kidnapping and persuaded other news organizations to follow its lead in the belief that publicity would have made Mr. Rohde more valuable to his captors as a bargaining chip, and perhaps reduced his chances of surviving.
Read more on the CityRoom blog >>