Paul Overby

Paul Edwin Overby Jr. (born November 27, 1942)[1] is an American author who disappeared on his way to Waziristan, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, to interview Sirajuddin Haqqani.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Overby's wife, Jane Larson, revealed it happened on May 17, 2014. Journalists agreed not to publish his identity until January 2017, when she agreed to make his identity public.[9]

Paul Overby
BornNovember 27, 1942
Illinois, United States
DisappearedMay 17, 2014 (aged 71)
Waziristan, Pakistan
StatusMissing for 9 years, 5 months and 8 days
NationalityAmerican
Other namesPaul Edwin Overby, Jr.
OccupationAuthor
Known forDisappeared mysteriously in Waziristan

Disappearance

Larson had believed Overby had been kidnapped by the Taliban.[5] However, on February 28, 2017, the Taliban released a statement denying that they had kidnapped Overby.[10]

Reporters Without Borders called for his release, on January 27, 2017.[11] On March 19, 2019, journalist David Rodhe, a former hostage himself, noted in the New Yorker magazine, that Overby was one of the Americans still in captivity.[12]

Later events

On May 8, 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his rescue.[7] In addition, the Rewards for Justice Program offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his location.[13]

Publications

In 1993, Overby had published a book on the Soviet–Afghan War, Holy Blood: An Inside View of the Afghan War.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Paul Edwin Overby, Jr". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  2. Rahimullah Yusufzai (2017-01-03). "American author Overby untraceable two years after he went missing". The News International. Archived from the original on 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2017-02-28. According to his family, the 74-year-old Overby had gone to Afghanistan to write a book on the ongoing war as a means of explaining the conflict from both the sides.
  3. "'Secret' U.S. Hostage Held by Taliban Identified as Paul Overby". Daily Beast. 2017-01-05. Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-02-28. As The Daily Beast first reported one year ago, a group of Taliban-aligned Islamist militants had been holding an American man hostage for more than a year. At the time, The Beast withheld the hostage's name at the request of his family and law-enforcement officials.
  4. Adam Goldman (2017-01-04). "Wife of American Man Missing in Afghanistan Says He Was Abducted". New York Times. Washington DC. p. A7. Archived from the original on 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2017-02-28. In an article published on Thursday in The News International in Islamabad, Jane Larson, the wife of Paul Overby, said in a statement that he disappeared in May 2014 as he tried to cross into Pakistan from Khost in eastern Afghanistan.
  5. "Afghan Taliban Statement Puts American Author's Whereabouts in Question". Voice of America. 2017-02-28. Archived from the original on 2017-05-28. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  6. David Gilbert (2017-01-12). "Proof of Life". Vice News. Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-02-28. Just this month Jane Larson, a Massachusetts resident, revealed that her husband Paul Overby had been abducted two years ago after traveling to Afghanistan to interview the head of Haqqani network for a book he was writing. His whereabouts are unknown.
  7. "$1 Million Reward Offered for Information Leading to the Return of Kevin King and Paul Edwin Overby, Jr". Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2018-06-18. Archived from the original on 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2019-03-27. In mid-May of 2014, Paul Edwin Overby, Jr., an American writer, disappeared in Khost Province, Afghanistan, where he was conducting research on a self-authored book. Prior to his disappearance, Overby suggested that he planned to cross the border into Pakistan in furtherance of his research.
  8. "Most Wanted Kidnappings/Missing Persons: Paul Edwin Overby, Jr". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  9. Peter Bergen (2017-01-05). "Family reveals American vanished in Afghanistan two years ago". CNN. Archived from the original on 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2017-02-28. For the past two and half years, Overby's family had kept his disappearance a secret and had requested media outlets that were aware that he was missing, including CNN, also keep the matter confidential out of fear for his life if it became public.
  10. "Remarks by spokesman of Islamic Emirate answering family of US citizen Paul Overby". Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. 2017-02-28. Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2019-03-27. If the US citizen Paul Overby were with us, we would have made it public and stated our demands just as we have shared videos of other US citizens in our detention with the media and made clear our demands{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. "Call for release of US writer missing in North Waziristan". Washington DC: Dawn (Pakistan). 2017-01-27. Archived from the original on 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2017-02-28. A media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, called on Wednesday for the immediate release of Paul Overby, an American writer who disappeared in North Waziristan.
  12. David Rodhe (2019-03-19). "An Exaggerated Trump Achievement Worthy of Applause". New Yorker magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2019-03-27. But other Americans, in addition to the six in Iran, remain in captivity, including the journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria for seven years; Kevin King, a college professor abducted by the Taliban, in Kabul, in 2016; Jeffrey Woodke, a missionary kidnapped the same year by an Al Qaeda affiliate, in Niger; and Paul Overby, a freelance journalist who has been missing in Pakistan since 2014.
  13. "Rewards for Justice - Acts of Terror - Kidnapping of Paul Edwin Overby, Jr".
  14. Paul Overby (1993). Holy blood: an inside view of the Afghan War. Praeger Frederick A. ISBN 9780275946227. Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
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