Two Americans held in Afghanistan traded for Taliban prisoner in final Biden deal delayed until Trump took office
CNN
In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: the Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison.
In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: the Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison. But there was an unexpected delay (at least in part due to bad weather in Washington and Kabul) and Donald Trump was officially back in the White House when Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were handed over and on their way home early Tuesday, exchanged for Afghan Taliban member Khan Mohammed who was convicted in 2008 on narco-terrorism charges. Mohammed had been flown by officials from the US to Doha. Qatar facilitated the trade by hosting several rounds of US negotiations with the Taliban and also provided logistical support to the operations to get the two American men out of Kabul, according to multiple people familiar with the details of the swap. The outgoing administration’s plan for the trade with the Taliban was communicated to Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz by Biden’s adviser Jake Sullivan. “They are on board with this deal,” the Biden official said. “They have acknowledged it, and they have not objected.” A senior Trump administration official pushed back on their approval of the swap.
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