In Pakistan, a Secret Hostage Makes His Escape

In Pakistan on Friday, a hostage made an extraordinary escape from his Taliban captors. The hostage was a reporter for our partner The New York Times. David Rohde, a Pulitzer Prize winner, had been held by the Taliban since last November, when he was captured outside Kabul while working on a book about the region. On Friday, Mr. Rohde and an Afghan journalist being held with him climbed over a wall on the second floor of a compound in North Waziristan; their driver, also a prisoner, did not escape. If you didn’t know that David Rohde was being held hostage, you aren’t alone: The New York Times decided to keep it secret in an effort to protect Mr. Rohde. Bill Keller is the executive editor of The New York Times, and he joins us.