The lawyer for an Afghan commander awaiting trial in Manhattan federal court says it's preposterous to charge his client in the killing of three American soldiers.

An Afghan man already facing charges in the 2008 gunpoint kidnapping of a New York Times reporter and another journalist in facing new charges in the killing of three American soldiers.

Rohde, reporting for the New York Times, and two other men were kidnapped at gunpoint in Afghanistan in 2008. The victims were not identified, but the description matched the kidnapping of Rohde and Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin. Their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was the third kidnapping victim and escaped a few weeks after Ludin and Rohde. According to an indictment, Najibullah was among several kidnappers armed with machine guns who took the men hostage before forcing them five days later to hike across the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Rohde told Ludin he had not been beaten, and Ludin said he had not seen any evidence Rohde was harmed.