Afghan released in prisoner exchange deal with US

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Tuesday confirmed the release of an Afghan, Khan Mohammad, from a US prison in exchange for the release of two American nationals.

According to a statement issued by the IEA, this move followed extensive negotiations with the US.

Khan Mohammad, was detained nearly two decades ago in Nangarhar and later sentenced to life imprisonment by a US court. He had been serving his sentence in California.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this exchange as a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, and is particularly grateful to the fraternal State of Qatar for its effective role in this regard,” the statement read.

The IEA praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the US and Afghanistan.

AP meanwhile reported that the freed Afghan had been imprisoned for life on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.

The deal came as former president Joe Biden, who oversaw the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, handed power over to returning President Donald Trump.

AP reported that the family of Ryan Corbett, one American held in Afghanistan, confirmed he had been released.

Corbett was arrested in Afghanistan in August 2022 while on a business trip.

Before Biden left office, his administration had been trying to work out a deal to free Corbett as well as George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the IEA’s intelligence services in December 2022 while traveling through the country. Habibi, an Afghan American businessman went missing in 2022.

The IEA has denied that it has Habibi.

It wasn’t immediately clear if either of the two men was the other released. Officials in Washington did not respond to AP’s requests for comment early Tuesday.