Taliban confirm release of two Americans in prisoner exchange

Ryan Corbett with his daughter Miriam and son Caleb in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2020 (Anna Corbett via AP)

A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban has freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure jailed for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.

The deal came as Joe Biden, who oversaw the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, handed power to returning President Donald Trump. The Taliban praised the swap as a step towards the “normalisation” of ties between the US and Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul confirmed the swap, saying two unidentified US citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008.

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 of Ryan Corbett, one American held by the Taliban, confirmed he had been released in a statement. Mr Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the US-backed government, was detained by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.

“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’s statement said. They thanked both Mr Trump and Mr Biden, as well as many government officials, for their efforts in freeing him.

Mr Corbett’s family also praised the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar “for their vital role in facilitating Ryan’s release, and for their visits to Ryan as the United States’ Protecting Power in Afghanistan”.

Both CNN and The New York Times, relying on anonymous US officials, identified the second American released as William McKenty, though no other details have emerged about his identity or what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Mohammed, 55, was a prisoner in California after his 2008 conviction. The Bureau of Prisons early on Tuesday listed Mohammed as not being in their custody.

Mohammed was detained on the battlefield in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and later taken to the US. A federal jury convicted him on charges of securing heroin and opium that he knew were bound for the United States and, in doing so, assisting terrorism activity.

The US Justice Department at the time referred to Mohammed as “a violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker” who “sought to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan using rockets”. He was the first person to be convicted on US narco-terrorism laws.

Before Mr Biden left office, his administration had been trying to work out a deal to free Mr Corbett as well as George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 while travelling through the country. Mr Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company, also went missing in 2022. The Taliban have denied they have Mr Habibi.

Officials in Washington did not respond to requests for comment early on Tuesday after Mr Trump’s inauguration the day before.

The Taliban called the exchange the result of “long and fruitful negotiations” with the US and said it was a good example of solving problems through dialogue.

“The Islamic Emirate looks positively at the actions of the United States of America that help the normalisation and development of relations between the two countries,” it said.

The Taliban have been trying to make inroads in being recognised, in part to escape the economic fallout caused by its takeover. Billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.