U.S. in talks with Taliban for release of Americans held in Afghanistan
The Taliban said they had been in talks with the Biden administration to exchange Afghans in U.S. custody for Americans detained in Afghanistan.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Biden administration has been in talks with the Taliban to exchange Americans detained in Afghanistan for Afghans in U.S. custody, a senior Taliban leader with direct knowledge of the negotiations told NBC News on Wednesday.
The Taliban leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said the two sides had been negotiating for the past two years but had so far failed to reach a deal.
He said the Taliban had demanded three Afghan nationals including Muhammad Rahim, the only Afghan prisoner left at Guantánamo Bay, a detention site in Cuba for the mostly Muslim men taken into custody around the world in the U.S. “war on terror.”
U.S. officials say Rahim, who has been held there without charge since 2008, was a senior aide in Al Qaeda, the terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Others say he held a much lesser role as a courier and translator and is not a national security threat.
“His mother has been protesting and made several demands for his release,” the Taliban leader said.
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