Islamabad, Pakistan – A prisoner swap between the United States and the Afghanistan Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban prisoner serving a life sentence in California on drug-trafficking charges, officials said Tuesday.
This agreement came when President Joe Biden, who was responsible for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, gave power to President Donald Trump.
The Taliban hailed the exchange as a step toward “normalizing” US-US relations Afghanistan but that is still a long way off as many countries in the world have yet to see military rule.
The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul confirmed the exchange, saying two unidentified US citizens were exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008.
In a statement, the family of Ryan Corbett, another American held by the Taliban, confirmed that he had been released. Corbett, who was living in Afghanistan with his family when the US-backed government fell in 2021, was kidnapped by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.
Sincerely, the Corbett family
“Our hearts are filled with deep gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him home after 894 challenging and uncertain days of our lives,” the family said in a statement. They both thanked Mr. Trump and Biden, along with many officials from both administrations, for their efforts to free him.
Corbett’s family also praised the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar for its “significant role in facilitating Ryan’s release, and their visit to Ryan as the United States’ Protecting Power in Afghanistan.” Energy-rich Qatar, which has hosted talks between the US and the Taliban for years, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Before Biden left office, his administration was trying to work out a deal to release Corbett along with George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Last week, Biden spoke with the relatives of the three Americans but there was no agreement to return them at that time, family members said.
Glezmann, an aircraft mechanic from Atlanta, was captured by Taliban intelligence in December 2022 while traveling across the country. Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked as a contractor for a communications company based in Kabul, also disappeared in 2022. The Taliban denies having Habibi.
It is not clear whether one of the two men has been released. Officials in Washington did not respond to requests for comment early Tuesday after Mr. Trump’s inauguration. Trump the day before.
A statement from the Corbett family said, “We had hoped that Ryan, George and Mahmoud would be reunited with their families together, and we cannot imagine the pain that this will bring us. We recognize the great privilege of our family being reunited today, and we cannot imagine the pain that this will bring us. And I pledge to continue to pray – and fight – for George and Mahmoud to be released immediately.”
The Taliban called the exchange the result of “long and fruitful talks” with the US and said it was a good example of resolving issues through dialogue.
“The Islamic Emirate looks favorably on the actions of the United States of America that help normalize and develop relations between the two countries,” he said.
The Taliban have been trying to gain traction on the streets, in part to escape the economic tailwind caused by their takeover. Billions in international funds were frozen and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country with their money.