Biden Admin Negotiating With Taliban for Release of Three American Prisoners

[Photo Credit: By Voice of America News - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAg7egiXClU, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109034031]

The Biden administration is reportedly talking with the Taliban to swap at least one well-known prisoner who is believed to be an associate of Osama bin Laden and is being imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for Americans who are being held in Afghanistan.

The Biden administration, which has been negotiating with the Taliban since at least July, informed the group on November 14 that if the Afghan rulers freed American citizens George Glezmann, Ryan Corbett, and Mahmoud Habibi who were captured in Afghanistan in 2022, the United States would free Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, whom the U.S. government claims was a senior al Qaeda aide.

Rahim is detained at Guantanamo Bay at the moment.

That same day, the Taliban made a counteroffer, asking for Rahim and two others in return for Glezmann and Corbett. Habibi is not being held by the Taliban.

In a secret meeting on December 17, national security advisor Jake Sullivan informed members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Biden had not yet made a decision on the Taliban’s proposal.

One of the persons stated that the panel’s chair, Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), was worried that the deal wasn’t good.

Regarding a confidential communication, McCaul’s staff chose not to comment.

The administration’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has returned from a trip to Doha, Qatar, where he discussed the Americans’ release with Taliban leaders.

Carstens made a new, “significant offer” to the Taliban last weekend, according to a U.S. official.

Biden faces a dilemma as a result of the Taliban’s offer.

Around the last four years, he has brought home more than 70 American hostages, and he takes great delight in arranging their release from all around the world.

However, releasing Rahim—who has long been regarded by the American authorities as a prominent prisoner—as well as maybe other Afghan inmates detained in American territory could draw criticism.

Since Biden’s decision to remove American forces from Afghanistan resulted in a convoluted withdrawal and the Taliban’s comeback to power, the country has proven to be a political thorn.

There could be even more political repercussions if one or more Afghan inmates who are considered a national security threat are released in return for American civilians.

The Taliban has long stated that it would exchange American citizens for American-held Afghan detainees.

Donald Trump, the incoming president, has criticized Biden’s previous agreements with hostile nations.

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