The Biden administration is in negotiations with the Afghans Taliban to exchange Americans held in Afghanistan for at least one high-profile detainee held at Guantanamo Bay who allegedly had ties to the former leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, according to today’s Wall Street Journal.
Spokesmen for the White House and the State Department had no immediate comment when contacted for comment on the report. Taliban spokesmen also did not immediately respond.
The US administration of outgoing President Joe Biden is seeking the return of three Americans arrested in 2022 – Ryan Corbett, George Glasman and Mahmoud Habibi – in exchange for the release of Mohammed Rahim al Afghani, the WSJ reported.
Corbett and Habibi were arrested in separate incidents in August 2022, a year after the Taliban seized Kabul amid a chaotic withdrawal of US forces.
Glasman was later arrested in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.
Al Afghani is an Afghan national described as a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative who was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2008 by the CIA.
Negotiations for that exchange have been underway since July, according to the WSJ, which cited sources with knowledge of intelligence presented by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month.
The publication comes after the Biden administration sent 11 Guantanamo Bay detainees to Oman on Monday, reducing the prisoners at that U.S. prison in Cuba by nearly half as part of an effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison as Biden prepares to leave office on Jan. 20.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions