Taliban Frees Two Citizens Detained in Afghanistan, United States: Not a Prisoner Exchange

JAKARTA - The Taliban released two US prisoners in Afghanistan, the State Department said on Tuesday, the same day they came under fire for banning women from universities.

"We understand this to be a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Taliban", said State Department spokesman Ned Price, launching The National News on December 21.

"This is not part of an exchange of prisoners or prisoners. No money is exchanged", said Price.

The two Americans were released to Qatar, which has played a key role in supporting United States interests in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.

Price said confidentiality rules prohibited him from giving any further details about the two Americans.

The two men were freed three months after the Taliban freed Mark Frerichs, an American engineer, in exchange for Bashir Noorzai, a convicted drug trafficker held by the United States since 2005 and granted a pardon by US President Joe Biden, Reuters reported.

CNN reported that those freed were Ivor Shearer, a filmmaker who was arrested in August with his Afghan producer, whose fate is unclear, while filming the location of the US drone strike that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri.

Meanwhile, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West welcomed the release of the two detainees.

"We wish them good health and a safe return to their families", West wrote on Twitter.

Asked if any other Americans were being held in Afghanistan, Price indicated there were.

"We continue to discuss with the Taliban the need for the immediate release of any US citizen held in Afghanistan, but I am not in a position to offer specifics", he said.

Washington has been in regular contact with the Taliban since US-led forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, after 20 years of war as the Western-backed government collapsed.