A former Taliban commander has been sentenced to 42 years in prison for supporting attacks that killed three US soldiers and for his role in the kidnapping of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Roday and two others in Afghanistan.The sentence was pronounced in Manhattan on Tuesday. It concludes a case that links terrorism, hostage-taking and the deaths of American soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.Haji Najibullah, 50, pleaded guilty in April 2025 to providing material support for terrorist acts and conspiring to take hostages. He provided weapons and other aid to the Taliban between 2007 and 2009, knowing they would be used in attacks against US forces.The case took an emotional turn during the sentencing hearing when journalist David Rohde, now a national security reporter for MSNBC and formerly with The New York Times, addressed the court while standing only a few feet away from Najibullah.Rohde recalled how he was lured to Afghanistan in 2008 for an interview with a Taliban commander, but was kidnapped along with another journalist and a driver. Three men were held captive for more than seven months before escaping from a Taliban-controlled compound in Pakistan’s tribal region.He told the court he was “surprised and disappointed” that Najibullah was attempting to shift blame for the kidnapping. Rohde said that it was Najibullah’s lies that lured him into the trap.Rohde said, “Hostage taking is a cruel and cowardly crime. Family members spend weeks and months wondering if they have the power to save the lives of their loved ones.” He said this is “an illusion” because families rarely have the money needed to meet ransom demands.Rohde said his own suffering is no less important than the deaths of three American soldiers killed in a separate Taliban operation linked to Najibullah’s group. He became emotional as he named the soldiers and talked about the impact of their deaths.Speaking through an interpreter, Najibullah apologized to Rohde and his family, saying, “What happened to him was terrible, and I deeply regret my role in it.”U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Fella said she decided not to impose the life sentence recommended under federal guidelines. He cited Najibullah’s guilty plea, which spared the victims a trial, and the harsh prison conditions he faced for six years, including the COVID-19 pandemic.However, he rejected even a lighter sentence. Najibullah’s lawyer had sought an 18-year sentence, arguing that his client was working to protect his motherland during the war.“I don’t think he needed to pull the trigger, decapitate a body, to be responsible for what happened,” Fela said, referring to deadly attacks carried out by fighters under his command.Rohde described agreeing to the interview where he was kidnapped as “the biggest mistake of my life” and said that if he had known that Najibullah was linked to attacks that killed American soldiers he would never have done it.The journalist also rejected claims made by his captors that he was a spy.He told the court that he was “a journalist” who wanted to understand the thoughts and lives of Taliban commanders. Rohde also said that he is “a journalist and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this profession.”