Former Taliban commander sentenced to 42 years in U.S. prison

A former Taliban commander has been sentenced to 42 years in U.S. prison for the kidnapping of an American journalist and two Afghan nationals, and for leading fighters who carried out attacks that killed U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, according to federal prosecutors.

Haji Najibullah, 50, also known as Najibullah Naim and Abu Tayeb, was sentenced on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Justice Department. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Najibullah pleaded guilty in April 2025 to hostage taking and providing material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death.

Federal prosecutors said Najibullah served as a Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province, which borders Kabul, between 2007 and 2009. Fighters under his command carried out attacks against U.S. and NATO troops and their Afghan allies using suicide bombers, automatic weapons, improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades and other explosives.

On June 26, 2008, Taliban fighters under Najibullah’s command ambushed a U.S. military convoy in Wardak Province with IEDs, RPGs and automatic weapons, killing three U.S. Army soldiers and their Afghan interpreter. Several other U.S. service members were injured.

The soldiers killed were identified as Sergeants First Class Matthew L. Hilton and Joseph A. McKay, and Sergeant Mark Palmateer.

Prosecutors said Najibullah later claimed responsibility for the attack, telling multiple people that his men carried it out and that U.S. soldiers had been killed. Months later, he and fighters under his command attacked and destroyed an Afghan National Police outpost, reportedly killing three Afghan police officers.

Najibullah was also involved in the kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde, Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, who were taken at gunpoint in Afghanistan on November 10, 2008.

The hostages were taken at gunpoint and held for about seven months in Taliban-controlled tribal areas of Pakistan. Prosecutors said they were kept under the constant watch of guards armed with machine guns.

Najibullah and his co-conspirators forced the hostages to make ransom calls and proof-of-life videos to pressure the U.S. government to pay ransom and release Taliban prisoners, according to prosecutors.

In one video, prosecutors said Najibullah forced the American journalist to plead for help while a machine gun was pointed at his head.

“If you don’t help me, I will die,” the journalist was forced to say, according to prosecutors. “If you do not meet their demands, you will be responsible for my killing, not the Taliban.”

Rohde and Ludin escaped in June 2009 by climbing over a wall at the compound where they were being held. Mangal was later freed.

“Those who harm Americans and engage in acts of terrorism will be hunted down and brought to justice, no matter how long it takes,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.