An veteran at Canada's Air Bourne Regiment and former UN Security Advisor, Dave Lore has been traveling inside and outside Kabul for two decades.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, they have also helped hundreds of Afghans at risk of retaliation because of their work for the Canadian army.
But when the Taliban did not bother him in the past, when he landed at Hameed Karzai Airport on the morning of November 11, 2024, he seemed to be waiting for him.
They took it into custody and retained it for 77 days until it was finally allowed to go on January 26.
In an interview a week after he was released, Leori said the Taliban repeatedly questioned whether he was a spy. His kidnappers were also suspicious because he was carrying 18 visas and plane tickets for two Afghan families cleared to come to Canada.
In his bag, Brett and the war jacket were similarly placed against him, though he was only wearing when he used to wrap a day's wreath in the memorial of Canadian troops.
“I am a spy, I am a spy, I am such things,” he said during the interrogation.
He said he still did not know that the Canadian government or the Qatari mediators deals, if any, who discussed his release. “This is a million dollar question,” he said.
Dave and Jinping Lauri talk to global news in Dubai on February 2, 2025.
World News
Foreign Minister Milani Julie announced the release of Leor last Sunday, and thanked Qatar's Prime Minister Muhammad bin Abdullah Main al -police station.
Since then, Leor has avoided making any public statements, but after a week of independence, he spoke to his home in Dubai to global news, including his wife, Junping.
He also shared a journal during his imprisonment. It begins with his name, birthdate, a note for his family and a “never accepting” period and ends with admission, “Go home.”
Leor has a long record of international humanitarian service. Two decades later in the Canadian military, he went to the United Nations in 2000 as a security adviser.
The Canadian Dave, as it is known, responded to worldwide crises from Sudan and Somalia to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, working with UN agencies and NGOs.
He first visited Afghanistan in 2005, when a plane crashed in the mountains outside Kabul, an experiment that led to a private contractor in 2010 as a private contractor.
Through his company Revenue Rae Resource Group, he continued the same niche that occupied the United Nations – until US forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan on 2021.
Since Islamist militants developed Kabul, the Afghans who helped the Canadian army and the government were desperate to escape by fear of taking revenge.
Working with the Veterans Transition Network, a BC -based charity, which was funded by the federal government, brought them to safe homes and trying to get evacuation flights to the Afghans to the airport. Stayed with mobilization.
It helped hundreds of planes before hoping at one of the last, and continued to help the Afghans escape from their new base in Dubai, and using them caravans and them. They used them to take the family to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it launched an operation in Poland that evacuated Ukrainian residents who worked with Canadian forces.
Gavin Oas, who is headed by VTN, said that he was based in Vancouver and was established in 2012 to provide consultation and trauma programs to veterans.
The Journal of Canada's veteran Dave Lori retained as a Taliban prisoner during his 77 days.
Handout
A day before she left for Kabul, Lori posted for a photo on the beach in Dubai, reading the book of which she was reading a copy of her: Escape from Kabul..
The next morning, wearing a naval jacket with a red poppy in Liple, he took a selfie at the Dubai airport and sent him to his comrades.
He was the first before the plane in Kabul. He cleaned the customs and met his suit case with the carousel of the goods, but he was suspected to be following it soon.
He said he had left the terminal and was walking in the parking lot to meet Junping, which was already in Kabul, when security officials caught him.
They took him back inside the airport and passed through the Canadian government, looking for a plane ticket and visa.
The Taliban also took an unhealthy interest in the Brett and the Jacket Jacket, which he brought to Canada to fall on the day of remembrance.
The eyes were tied up and tied his hands with the scarf, put it in the back of the vehicle and taken to the cell, which he calls his “illegal detention”.
When Lorey did not appear at Kabul Airport, Junping waited and tried to call, but his phone stopped. He did not even respond to WhatsApp messages.
He showed his photo all around and called Lori's son, but it was rapidly shown that the worst happened: the Taliban made him a prisoner.
Recalling his military training, Leor said he tried to calm down and understand his surroundings.
His investigator explained that if he cooperated, the investigation could start formally, but if he did not do so, he would return in a month and try again.
Taliban intelligence officials explained that it could continue for years, and that Lorers had spent a lot of time in Afghanistan to know that it was true.
Its cell was four meters six meters, with a tight window sealed with Riber. A donkey was lying on a red carpet and there was a plastic cup for tea.
Lori said he told himself that it could be his home for a long time, and that would be less bonus. He came into the usual routine of walking around his cell.
Canadian military veteran Dave Leor was released by the Taliban on January 26, 2025.
Veterans Transition Network
In hopes of going to a hospital, where he may be able to talk to his family, he began to play the role of a weak old man, walking with a lame and about the change of kidney problems and hips Complained.
The Taliban responded sarcastically. He saw his online profile, which described it as a Canadian Dave. Canada's Dave didn't need a doctor, he said, Canada's Daves were strong.
“What's wrong with Canada's Dave?”
After eating a fish head, he began to vomit and appealed to take the hospital for the test, which he did.
He was then blindfolded and taken to a “guest house” compound where four Americans were also kept (two were released in a prisoner soon).
It was a step from his cell, and was a television where he could watch CNN.
He said the investigation into the investigation was in danger. The Taliban accused him of spying and examined his body for GPS tracker.
They were asked about Canada's security intelligence service, and Israel, and what he was doing in Ukraine. He replied that he was not a spy. But, he said, he was not beaten or tortured.
After being released by the Taliban on January 26, 2025, Qatar officials with Canadian veteran Dave Lore.
Handout
At the end of December, the Taliban re -moved it to the villa that worked as a lease base in Kabul. He was detained in the house but he had some comfort from the house.
He was allowed to call his family for the first time on December 30. But he later found a Nokia phone from which his kidnappers lost.
Once he raised his hand on a cable, he managed to charge him and call his son Brant, who was surprised to hear his father's voice.
Brant said in an interview that he assured his father that the Qatar government was keeping an eye on it, and was working to get it out.
Canadian officials were also in contact with the drops and believed that their release was near.
“And I was able to provide my father with some such information,” Brant said in an interview. “I think he has promoted his morale.”
The family was given an additional incentive to see the leverah freely independently. Brant and his wife are expecting their first child in the spring, and they wanted it there.
“Trust me, I was moving global affairs Canada and everyone. Brant said, I was calling, and I got a call with Minister Julie.
“This is something we really wanted to win. We were pushing for it. In our calls with Minister Julie, he said she would work hard on it.
Canada's Dave Lore has been reunited with his wife Johnsung at Doha Airport in Qatar.
Handout
On January 25, Leor worked on the villa's roof, ate pizza dinner and wrote a note in his journal that a guard was already in his room.
“Good news David” according to the calculation of the conversation in his journal. “You are being released – tomorrow 100 % will go.”
The Taliban told him that the country's courts had decided that he had been operating and had served for a long time, though it had never been explained.
One of his last diary entry reads, “Good night will get you tomorrow.” “Wow I'm going home on 77 days. I was very lucky.”
When his plane landed on Doha, he landed the stairs of the wind and saw a row of officials on the modification. He thought that VIP should be on the plane.
But they were there. He posted for photos with the drops and re -joined Johnsung and his son before returning to Dubai.
Lorey said she was “very happy, very happy” with World Affairs Canada, and said that Jolie “is terrific” and gave her son his direct number so he could talk.
He said he had no plans to return to Kabul.
The drops told the family that this was the fastest matter that they had ever handled. The road was also safely evacuated in Pakistan by road to help Afghan families.
The family is very happy that when his grandson is born, his leverage will be there.
“We can celebrate a really positive thing for the whole family. And we know that Father is really going with us,” Brand said.
“There were a lot of things working behind the scenes, and Canada was also a huge part of it and drops.”
“We really need to thank a lot of people.”
stewart.bell@globalnews.ca