Ex-Taliban commander pleads guilty in killings of U.S. soldiers and kidnapping of journalists

 A former Taliban commander pleaded guilty Friday to providing weapons and other support for attacks that killed American soldiers and for key roles in the 2008 gunpoint kidnapping of a reporter for The New York Times and another journalist.

Speaking through an interpreter, Haji Najibullah, 49, entered the plea in Manhattan federal court to providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to take hostages.

"Najibullah committed his crimes in Afghanistan over 15 years ago, and now faces justice in an American courtroom," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in a news statement.