Syracuse, NY — New York Times reporter David Rohde was held hostage by the Taliban for over seven months while working in Afghanistan. In a lengthy five part series, on nytimes.com, Rohde recounts his time spent in captivity through a riveting narrative. He writes most of his story from memory.
Can you imagine trying to remember seven months of captivity?
In part two of the series, these lines stood out:
On the first day there, I went to the bathroom and returned to find Tahir with a fresh cut on his calf. It looked as if someone had drawn a line across his leg in red ink. A local Waziri militant had taken out his knife and tried to cut off a chunk of Tahir’s calf, saying he wanted to eat the flesh of an Afghan who worked with Westerners. One of Atiqullah’s guards had stopped him.
This is some great writing. The description of the cut is simple and clear in my mind.
I’m not an authority on the Pulitzer but I know this is story deserves a nomination. I would love to reach this level of reporting and writing.
- east coast paper boy.
Tags: 10 Days in Captivity, 7 Months, afghanistan, al qaeda, david rohde, held by the taliban, hostage, journalist, kabul, new york, new york times, ny, ny times, syracuse, taliban
