Americans Blocked Release of Pole

A Pakistani journalist from Geo TV, who was one of few to have interviewed Osama bin Laden, is trying to show in a conversation with Dziennik that the exchange of the kidnapped Pole for Taliban POWs was blocked by the Americans. In his opinion, the execution was caused by the offensive of the Pakistani Army conducted on the Taliban-controlled territory.

Hamid Mir*: The Polish government was completely helpless and could not do anything to save the Polish engineer’s life. Moreover, the hostage’s death happened because of the military action against the terrorists led by the Pakistani Army in the region where the engineer was being detained. In such conditions, holding him any longer as a prisoner was too risky for them. From the very beginning, the Pole’s fate seemed to be sealed. The Taliban has murdered over one thousand people in Pakistan – clerks, Pakistani military men, security service officers. They also have foreigners on their scorecard. The only chance could have been the exchange of the engineer for members of the Taliban doing time in Pakistani prisons. But such a solution was blocked by the Americans. It was Washington that did not allow for the exchange of the Taliban rebels for the Pole. I know that pressure was exerted on the Pakistani Government not to agree on the exchange. The Americans could have done much in this matter. Unlike the Poles, they have influence on the government in Islamabad, while an armed attempt to free the Pole would have been ineffective.

*Until 2007, Hamid Mir conducted a feature program popular for Pakistan on Geo TV. Geo TV was the first one who reported the murder of the Polish engineer by the Taliban. In November 2001, Mir interviewed Osama bin Laden.