The Taliban mentioned they exchanged American engineer Mark Frerich to free a senior Taliban determine from the US on Monday.
“Today, Mark Frerich was handed over to the US and Haji Bashir was handed over to us at Kabul airport,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki advised a information convention within the Afghan capital. Muttaki mentioned the trade happened “after a long conversation”.
Hours after the Taliban assertion, Freirich’s household confirmed that he had been launched.
The US Navy veteran was working as a civil engineer on development tasks in Afghanistan when he was taken hostage in January 2020.
The US has been pushing for Frerich’s launch because the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden, who’s within the UK to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, known as on Freirich’s household on Monday morning to share the “good news” that his administration was capable of safe his launch, a senior official mentioned. in accordance.
One of Frerich’s sisters, who’s from Lombard, Illinois, thanked US authorities officers who helped safe her brother’s launch.
“I am overjoyed to hear that my brother is safe and is on his way home. Our family has prayed that he is held hostage every day for more than 31 months. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home to us safely,” mentioned Charlene Kakora.
Taliban drug kingpin Haji Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal chief, was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling greater than $50 million value of heroin into the United States.
He was convicted of conspiracy to commit heroin import and distribution and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Noorzai briefly addressed a press convention with Muttaki at a resort in Kabul. “I am proud to be among my brothers in the capital of my country,” he mentioned.
Doha-based Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem posted an image of himself in Kabul.
Honorable Haji Muhammad Bishar launched after 20 years of imprisonment and reached Kabul at this time pic.twitter.com/XA1ntqQ6VP
— Dr.M.Naeem (@IeaOffice) September 19, 2022
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Another Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, advised AFP information company that Noorzai had no official place within the Taliban, however “provided strong support, including weapons” as a radical Islamist motion within the Nineteen Nineties.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
