ISLAMABAD — A prisoner swap between the USA and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two People in change for a Taliban determine imprisoned for all times in California on drug trafficking and terrorism costs, officers stated Tuesday.
The deal got here as Joe Biden, who oversaw the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, handed energy over to returning President Donald Trump. The Taliban praised the swap as a step towards the “normalization” of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan, however that doubtless stays a tall order as most international locations on the earth nonetheless don’t acknowledge their rule and one other two People are believed held.
U.S., Taliban and Qatar all concerned within the swap
The Taliban’s Overseas Ministry in Kabul confirmed the swap, saying two unidentified U.S. residents had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to 2 phrases of life imprisonment in 2008.
The household of Ryan Corbett, one American held by the Taliban, confirmed he had been launched in an announcement. Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan together with his household on the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed authorities, was detained by the Taliban in August 2022 whereas on a enterprise journey.
“Our hearts are stuffed with overwhelming gratitude and reward to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him again dwelling after what has been probably the most difficult and unsure 894 days of our lives,” the household’s assertion stated. They thanked each Trump and Biden, in addition to many authorities officers, for his or her efforts in liberating him.
Corbett’s household additionally praised the Center Jap nation of Qatar “for his or her important position in facilitating Ryan’s launch, and for his or her visits to Ryan as the USA’ Defending Energy in Afghanistan.” Vitality-rich Qatar has hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban over time.
Qatari Overseas Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari declined to debate the swap intimately with journalists at a briefing Tuesday.
“We’re nonetheless engaged on it with the events,” al-Ansari stated. “We will affirm that our efforts are all the time ongoing, after all, in all or most of the parts of this matter.”
Each CNN and The New York Instances, counting on nameless U.S. officers, recognized the second American launched as William McKenty, although no different particulars have emerged about his identification or what he was doing in Afghanistan. Officers in Washington didn’t reply to requests for remark early Tuesday after Trump’s inauguration the day earlier than.
Taliban prisoner first convicted of narco-terrorism
Mohammed, 55, was a prisoner in California after his 2008 conviction. The Bureau of Prisons early Tuesday listed Mohammed as not being of their custody.
Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, a Taliban Overseas Ministry deputy spokesperson, stated Mohammed had arrived in Afghanistan and was together with his household. Photographs launched by the Taliban confirmed him being welcomed again in his dwelling province of Nangarhar, within the nation’s east, with multicolored garlands.
Mohammed instructed Taliban-controlled media he had frolicked behind bars in Bagram and in addition Washington, D.C.
“It’s a pleasure seeing your loved ones and coming to your homeland. The best pleasure is to return and be part of your Muslim brothers,” he stated.
He was detained on the battlefield in Nangarhar and later taken to the U.S. A federal jury convicted him on costs of securing heroin and opium that he knew have been sure for the USA and, in doing so, aiding terrorism exercise.
The Justice Division on the time referred to Mohammed as “a violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker” who “sought to kill U.S. troopers in Afghanistan utilizing rockets.” He was the primary individual to be convicted on U.S. narco-terrorism legal guidelines.
Ahmed Rashid, the creator of a number of books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, described Mohammed because the “largest medicine smuggler the U.S. needed to cope with and key funder of the Taliban.”
Earlier than Biden left workplace, his administration had been making an attempt to work out a deal to free Corbett, in addition to George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi, in change for Muhammad Rahim, one of many remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Taliban’s intelligence providers in December 2022 whereas touring by means of the nation. Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who labored as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications firm, additionally went lacking in 2022. The Taliban have denied they’ve Habibi.
Habibi’s household welcomed the change and stated they have been assured the Trump administration would make a “larger effort” to free him, expressing their frustration with the Biden group.
“We all know they’ve proof my brother is alive and in Taliban fingers and it might have been influential in encouraging the Taliban to confess they’ve him,” Habibi’s brother Ahmed stated in an announcement shared by the nonprofit World Attain.
Biden officers “refused to make use of” the proof, he claimed. “We all know Trump is about outcomes and we’ve got religion he’ll use each instrument obtainable to get Mahmood dwelling.”
Taliban attempt to achieve worldwide recognition
For his or her half, the Taliban referred to as the change the results of “lengthy and fruitful negotiations” with the U.S. and stated it was instance of fixing issues by means of dialogue.
“The Islamic Emirate appears to be like positively on the actions of the USA of America that assist the normalization and growth of relations between the 2 international locations,” it stated.
The Taliban have been making an attempt to make inroads in being acknowledged, partially to flee the financial tailspin brought on by their takeover. Billions in worldwide funds have been frozen, and tens of 1000’s of extremely expert Afghans fled the nation and took their cash with them.
Nevertheless, some nations have welcomed Taliban officers, just like the United Arab Emirates, dwelling to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. On Tuesday, Emirati chief Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan once more welcomed Taliban Inside Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who additionally heads the Haqqani community, a strong power inside the group blamed for a few of the bloodiest assaults towards Afghanistan’s former Western-backed authorities.
Haqqani remains to be wished by the U.S. on a bounty of as much as $10 million over his involvement in an assault that killed an American citizen and different assaults. The assembly got here even because the UAE maintains a detailed relationship with the U.S.
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Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Najib Jobain in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
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