THE Obama administration is considering transferring to Afghan custody a senior Taliban official suspected of major human rights abuses as part of a long-shot bid to improve the prospects of a peace deal in Afghanistan, according to Reuters news agency.

John Walker Lindh, the American who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, has received a 20-year prison sentence.

John Walker Lindh, the young convert to Islam who left California to fight alongside the Taliban, has pleaded guilty to two charges in a surprise deal that spares him life in prison and ensures his co-operation with US terrorism investigators.

The US government will not seek the death penalty for the alleged American Taliban John Walker Lindh.

The body of the first American known to have died in combat in Afghanistan has arrived back home.