The cause of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas for her 2008 attempt to murder U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan, persists as a rallying cry for jihadis to carry out terror operations against American targets. The MEMRI JTTM team recently reported that a call was issued on during a panel show on Afghanistan’s Tolo News TV channel, by political analyst Abdul Jabar Stanakzai, who admonished Pakistani Islamists and jihadis in general for their “shameful” failure to “kidnap three Americans” on order to secure Siddiqui’s release.
Below is the MEMRI JTTM report on the call to kidnap U.S. citizens:
On February 10, 2026, Afghan political affairs analyst Abdul Jabar Stanakzai said on a Pashtu-language TV program aired by Afghanistan’s Tolo News that Pakistanis and jihadi militant groups should kidnap Americans in Pakistan to pressure for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist who is serving an 86-year prison term in Texas for trying to kill U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and her links to Al-Qaeda.
Tolo News hosted several political analysts on one of its programs to discuss the recent remarks of Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who had earlier stated: “We intervened in Afghanistan to please the United States,” a reference to Pakistan aiding American policies supporting jihad against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
“It Is A Great Matter Of Shame And Disgrace That Aafia Siddiqui Is Still In Prison – In All Of Pakistan, Not A Single Person Can Be Found Who Would Kidnap Three Americans And, In Exchange For Them, Secure [Aafia Siddiqui’s] Release”
On the program, Abdul Jabbar Stanakzai was asked by the television host: “Is Pakistan still implementing American projects? If it is implementing, what are its current projects?”
Abdul Jabbar Stanakzai said: “Their [Pakistan’s] projects have been ongoing since the past. I think that as long as Aafia Siddiqui is still in their [Americans’] prison, and some say that they [Pakistanis] handed her over for 17 million dollars, some say they handed her over for 27 million dollars.
“So all the people of Pakistan, the Muslim nation of Pakistan, and the Pakistan army should hear this with their own ears: that Afghans were so honorable that they released 49,000 prisoners from Bagram, released 35,000 prisoners from Pul-e-Charkhi prison, and [got] hundreds of prisoners released from Guantanamo, and one prisoner of ours remains [in Guantanamo], and we will… also free him in the near future.”
Stanakzai continued: “But it is a great matter of shame and disgrace that Aafia Siddiqui is still in prison. In all of Pakistan, not a single person can be found who would kidnap three Americans and, in exchange for them, secure [Aafia’s] release.”
“Pakistan should understand this; its nation should understand this, its mujahideen should understand this, its people should understand this, its scholars should understand this, its army should understand this: even if you consider this a matter of shame for us [Afghans], then write it as such; if you consider it a matter of our honor, then write it as such… We say that Afghans are a nation that has liberated its homeland from occupation twice [from the Soviets and the Americans], and have liberated it through their own sacrifices,” he added.
