LAGOS NOVEMBER 20TH (NEWSRANGERS) — an American and an Australian — who had been held by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2016 were released Tuesday in a prisoner swap for three high-ranking insurgents.
American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, both professors at the American University of Kabul, were handed over to US forces in the country’s southern Zabul province, an insurgent source told Agence France-Presse.
The men were flown out of the region on US choppers, according to a local police source. Their release came hours after the Afghan government freed three Taliban prisoners and sent them to Qatar.
Both sides said they were hopeful the swap could lead to a breakthrough in stalled efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table with the Kabul government and begin work toward a political settlement to end the group’s 18-year insurgency. Peace would allow for the eventual withdrawal of US troops.
The released insurgents included Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of the Taliban’s deputy leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who heads the Afghan guerrilla insurgent group’s Haqqani network.
The Taliban members were released in Doha, Qatar, where the group maintains a political office, according to a Taliban representative.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the release of the hostages “give[s] us hope for the success of intra-Afghan peace negotiations, which the United States stands ready to support.
“We see these developments as hopeful signs that the Afghan war, a terrible and costly conflict that has lasted 40 years, may soon conclude through a political settlement.”
The US welcomed the exchange, saying the hostages had suffered from their ordeal. “We pray for the full recovery of both men,” said White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham. “We thank the Afghan government for its actions, in the spirit of our partnership that enabled the freeing of the hostages.”
When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani first announced the potential exchange last week, he said Kabul had ensured that the freed militants would not return to the front line.
He also said he hoped the swap would “pave the way” for unofficial direct talks between his government and the Taliban, who have long refused to negotiate peace with Kabul.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement, “We are profoundly pleased and relieved” at the hostages’ release, adding that Weeks’ family had asked to convey its own relief and gratitude.
King and Weeks were abducted by gunmen wearing military uniforms in the heart of Afghan capital in August 2016. The next year, the Taliban released two videos of them and another in January 2017 in which the hostages appeared pale and gaunt.
Both men claimed at the time that they were being treated well and asked their governments to help in their release — but it’s impossible to know whether they were forced to speak.
US officials said American forces had launched a rescue mission to free the hostages at one point that failed to find the hostages.
Washington and the Taliban had been holding direct talks pursuing an agreement for US troops to begin leaving Afghanistan. They were on the verge of a deal when President Trump scuttled the talks in September, citing Taliban violence.
New York Times
