Taliban Offer Kidnapped Doc for MIT Terrorist

The Taliban today admitted to kidnapping a female Scottish aid worker in Afghanistan, and offered to trade her for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani ex-MIT student sentenced to 86 years in prison last week for trying to kill FBI officers. Siddiqui’s sentence set off a wave of protests in Pakistan, with the prime minister calling her a “daughter of the nation” and vowing to bring her home, according to Aol News.

“We are lucky that we abducted this British woman so soon after the ruthless ruling by an American court on Aafia Siddiqui,” a Taliban commander told the Afghan Islamic Press, according to the Daily Mail. “We will demand the release of Siddiqui in exchange for her.” The Scottish woman was abducted yesterday morning when gunmen intercepted her convoy. Local tribal elders are helping to organize a large search operation.

For more on the mysteries surrounding Siddiqui, click here.
(More Aafia Siddiqui stories.)