Anonymous Pakistani officials deny al Qaeda’s claim that General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s son was kidnapped and exchanged for Ayman al Zawahiri’s two daughters, a third woman and their children. But their denial raises a number of additional questions and only adds to the mystery.
Al Qaeda claims that two of Ayman al Zawahiri’s daughters and a third woman were exchanged for the son of Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in either late July or early August. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify the claim, but it is known that al Qaeda had been trying to exchange at least one kidnapped son of Pakistan’s elite for the women. Al Qaeda announced that the women and their children were released in early August.