Man Saved From Taliban Thought Donald Trump Being President 'Was A Joke'

A lot can happen in five years, especially if you're held captive by a Taliban-affiliated group in the middle of Afghanistan.

Joshua Boyle, 34-year-old Canadian man who was recently rescued from captivity on Wednesday, thought Donald Trump being President was a joke, according to the Toronto Star Saturday.

Boyle, and his wife Caitlan Coleman, were hiking in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in 2012 before they were abducted by the Haqqani Network – a Sunni Islamist militant organization. According to the Toronto Star's Michelle Shepherd, the couple and their three children, lived in harsh and confined conditions.

Not only was the couple subject to persecution, but they were restricted to their cell, which completely shut them out from the outside world.

"It was just after Trump's inauguration that they were forced to do a proof of life video, and Josh said at that point that's when he was told that Donald Trump was elected, and he actually said he thought it was a joke," Shepherd said to NPR's Renee Montagne Sunday. "They'd been in this bubble for four years at that point."

The proof of life video was shot January 10, more than two months after Donald Trump was elected into the White House. That video was made four months after the couples' last proof of life video.

The duo and their young children were returned safely to their families Saturday.