Pakistan’s Peshawar A top Taliban leader with firsthand knowledge of the conversations told NBC News on Wednesday that the Biden administration has been in discussions with the Taliban to swap Afghans in U.S. custody for Americans who are incarcerated in Afghanistan.
Speaking under anonymity because he was not permitted to publicly discuss the matter, the Taliban leader claimed that despite two years of negotiations, no agreement had been reached.
Muhammad Rahim, the lone Afghan prisoner still at Guant namo Bay, a Cuban detention facility for the primarily Muslim prisoners arrested worldwide in the U.S. war on terror, was among the three Afghan nationals he claimed the Taliban had demanded.
Rahim, who has been detained there without being charged since 2008, was a key aide in Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden that carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to U.S. officials. Others claim he was not a threat to national security and had a far smaller role as a translator and courier.
According to the Taliban leader, his mother has been demonstrating and has made multiple calls for his release.
The Taliban leader acknowledged that the group had taken three American citizens in the previous two years and claimed to have personally attended some of the talks with U.S. officials.
“We think the U.S. administration will make it happen because they are eager to return their three citizens who are currently detained in Afghanistan,” he said.
He claimed that the three Americans were charged with spying and spreading Christianity in Afghanistan, but he did not give their names. However, the Taliban have already acknowledged that they are in custody of George Glezmann and Ryan Corbett, both of whom the State Department has designated as being illegally detained.
Glezmann was caught during a trip to Afghanistan in December 2022, and Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan for a long period prior to the U.S. pullout, was detained in August 2022 while on a business trip there. According to reports, both men’s health deteriorated while they were being held.
Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized American who worked for an American consultancy firm and was detained in his home country of Afghanistan in August 2022 following the U.S. drone strike that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a third individual that the Taliban have not verified they are holding.
According to the Taliban leader, Afghan officials have called for the release of Rahim and two other Afghan citizens who are detained in the United States but have nothing to do with politics or terrorism.
He stated, “We will hopefully get them back to Afghanistan because the charges against them are different.”
“The safety and security of Americans abroad is one of the Biden-Harris Administration’s top priorities, and we are working around the clock to ensure George, Ryan, and Mahmood return safely,” a White House National Security Council official stated.
The spokesperson stated: “The Administration will continue to work with President Biden and his team, frequently in collaboration with important allies, to negotiate the release of Americans who have been held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas so that they can be reunited with their families for the rest of the term.
Rahim was captured in Pakistan and subjected to extreme interrogation methods by the Central Intelligence Agency, including sleep deprivation sessions that lasted up to nearly six days, according to a 2014 Senate investigation. No intelligence was produced by them.
Rahim has been repeatedly, most recently in November 2023, determined to be a continuous national security danger by a federal review tribunal, making him currently ineligible to leave Guant Namo.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the U.S.-Taliban conversations.
Over 75 American citizens and residents who have been arrested abroad have been returned by Biden in the last four years, including three from China in a prisoner swap last fall and four from Russia in a multinational prisoner swap last summer. Biden authorized the release of an Afghan drug kingpin in American detention in 2022 in return for Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who had spent two years in captivity in Afghanistan.
It may be more difficult for Biden politically to agree to free an Afghan prisoner at Guant Namo, though, given he has faced harsh criticism from lawmakers for the disorganized withdrawal of American-led forces from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Biden is committed to closing Guantnamo Bay before the conclusion of his tenure, according to the White House.
The Pentagon announced on Monday that it has moved 11 Yemeni prisoners to Oman this week after they had been detained at Guant Namo for more than 20 years without being charged. With their release, there are now 15 detainees left at Guant Namo, the fewest since 2002.
Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong, while Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.
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