Sawt Falasteen - Afghan Taliban government swaps prisoners with US

Outgoing US president Joe Biden agreed on the deal shortly before leaving office on Monday, with the exchange finally taking place after Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

"An Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country," the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Mohammed had been serving a life sentence in California after being arrested "almost two decades ago" in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.

Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism by a US court, returned to the province on Tuesday, where he was greeted by a crowd and presented with garlands of flowers.

He told journalists he was grateful to the Taliban authorities for his release and he was "very happy" to be reunited with his family.

"A lot of innocent people are imprisoned, my request is that all of them can be released and be able to return to their homes," he said.

His son, Rafiullah Mohammed, said his father was innocent and that the family demanded compensation.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP two US nationals had been released, declining to provide any further details on the exchange.

- 'Overwhelming gratitude' -

The family of US citizen Ryan Corbett, who was detained by the Taliban in 2022, confirmed he was released and thanked both the Biden and Trump administrations, as well as Qatar.

"Today, our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan's life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives," the family said on their website.

They called for two other Americans still held in Afghanistan to be released.

The person familiar with the deal confirmed William McKenty as the second released American detainee. Little is known about what he was doing in Afghanistan and his family asked for privacy.

Qatar's lead negotiator, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi, confirmed the Gulf state's mediation in the exchange, with all the released people going through Doha.

Two other Americans are believed to remain in detention in Afghanistan, former airline mechanic George Glezmann and naturalised American Mahmood Habibi.

In August 2024, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was seeking information about the disappearance of Afghan-American businessman Habibi two years previously.

- 'New chapter' -

Biden came under heavy criticism for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, more than a year after Trump presided over a deal with the Taliban insurgents to end US and NATO involvement in the two-decade war.

After Trump's election win in November, the Taliban government had said it hoped for a "new chapter" in ties with the United States.

Taliban authorities have repeatedly said they want positive relations with every country since sweeping back to power in 2021.

No state has officially recognised their government, with restrictions on women's rights a key sticking point for many countries, including the United States.

The Taliban government on Tuesday called the exchange "a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, expressing special gratitude for the effective role of the brotherly country of Qatar in this regard".

"The Islamic Emirate views positively those actions of the United States that contribute to the normalisation and expansion of relations between the two countries," it added, using the Taliban authorities' name for their government.

A 2008 US Department of Justice statement named Mohammed -- in his 30s at the time -- as a member of "an Afghan Taliban cell" and said he was arrested in October 2006 and sentenced in December 2008 to "two terms of life in prison on drug and narco-terrorism charges".

It was the first narco-terrorism conviction in a US federal court, the statement said.

At least one Afghan prisoner remains in detention at the secretive US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Muhammad Rahim, whose family called for his release in November 2023.

In February last year, two former prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay until 2017 were welcomed home to Afghanistan, more than 20 years after they were arrested.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST