Former Taliban Hostage To Speak At Forest Hills Community Center

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- For 45 days, Jere Van Dyke awoke in a no-man's land between Afghanistan and Pakistan unsure if he would live or die

That's how long the investigative journalist was held hostage by the Taliban before his release in 2008. Now a decade later, Van Dyke will be in Forest Hills on April 23 to promote his new book, "Taken" about the days he spent fearing for his life and his multiple return trips to the area since to find out why it happened.

Van Dyke will speak at the Central Queens Y about the backstory behind his own abduction and the international underbelly of political kidnappings that he said has become terrorist groups' most lucrative source of income, the local community center announced.

By the time he was kidnapped in 2008, Van Dyke has grown familiar with Afghanistan. The veteran spent time there covering the Soviet-Afghan war for the New York Times in 1981 and returned shortly after 9/11 to cover the region for CBS News, the New York Times reported.

After he was released from captivity, Van Dyke was sure that trip to Afghanistan would be his last. But years after the kidnapping, he found himself unable to shake the nagging questions of why he had been kidnapped and released while other hostages around him were killed.

"He was troubled by the refusal of his friends, employers and government employees to offer him a full account of what they knew," said Peggy Kurtz, director of cultural arts programs at the Central Queens Y.

Six years after his release, Van Dyke returned to the land where he'd been kidnapped to find out why.

It was the first of several return trips to the Middle East that would shape his book, "The Trade: My Journey Into the Labyrinth Of Political Kidnapping," which debuted in October 2017.

In those visits, Van Dyke sat down with some of the jihadi groups about their use of humans as political bargaining chips. He also spoke with the families of Americans killed - or in some cases, still being held hostage - by the extremist groups.

Van Dyke's talk about his book and what he learned making it will start at 1:30 p.m. It is open to the public and an $8 voluntary donation is requested.

For more information, call 718-268-5011, email or visit the Central Queens Y website.

(Lead Photo by Ariel Kiley/Central Queens Y)