World | Pakistan Taliban Target Pakistanis With Relatives in US Extremists kidnap family of immigrants, demand ransom By Jason Farago Posted Feb 17, 2009 7:01 AM CST Copied A youngster sits beside his belongings as he waits for his parents to cross a river as they flee from a troubled area near Mingora, the main town of Pakistan's Swat Valley, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Sherin Zada) The Taliban have developed a new tactic as they grow stronger in Pakistan: kidnapping and intimidating Pakistanis with relatives in the US. Immigrants are targeted through their families for money or as punishment for perceived political dissent, reports the New York Times. This creates a vexing paradox for Pakistanis in the US, whose American income both supports and endangers their families back home. In New York City, home to several thousand immigrants from Pakistan's Swat Valley, news of Taliban troubles now arrives several times a day. One man in Queens described threatening phone calls from Pakistan demanding $1 million, followed by a call from his brother—who had fled with their father into the forest to escape the extremists. "My 97-year-old father is on the run," he exclaimed. "Tragedy! Tragedy!" Read These Next Merchants could slap new surcharges on certain credit card purchases. Warren Buffett is changing how he's distributing his vast wealth. Students hit with felony charges over a giant anti-TPUSA insect. DNA break leads to arrest in 1994 Seattle cold case. Report an error