Two for One

Two Americans held in Afghanistan were released on Tuesday in exchange for a Taliban member imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, the Associated Press reported.

The two Americans, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, were exchanged for Afghani Taliban member Khan Mohammed, 55, who was convicted in 2008 on narco-terrorism charges and sentenced to two life sentences, according to CNN.

Corbett had lived in Afghanistan at the time of the 2021 collapse of the US-backed government and was taken by the Taliban while on a business trip in 2022.

The prisoner swap was organized by the Biden administration – which oversaw the controversial US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 – after nearly two years of Qatari-mediated negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.

Meanwhile, Mohammed arrived back in his home province of Nangarhar, in the east of Afghanistan. He had been the first person to be convicted under US narco-terrorism laws.

He was indicted in 2006 and brought to the US in 2007. During his trial, he was accused of helping the Taliban obtain rockets to attack a US military base and selling heroin intended to be distributed in the states, according to the New York Times.

The Taliban praised the swap as a step towards the “normalization” of ties between the two nations, although most countries still don’t recognize Taliban rule.

Even so, two other Americans are being held hostage by the Taliban, according to US officials.

The Taliban have been trying to receive international recognition following their takeover of the country in 2021. Afghanistan is grappling with a struggling economy and financial shortfalls since the takeover after billions in international funds were frozen and thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country.