Blitz Bureau
PESHAWAR: The Biden administration has been in talks with the Taliban to exchange Americans detained in Afghanistan for Afghans in US custody, a senior Taliban leader with direct knowledge of the negotiations told NBC News.
The Taliban leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly, said the two sides had been negotiating for the past two years but had so far failed to reach a deal.
He said the Taliban had demanded three Afghan nationals, including Muhammad Rahim, the only Afghan prisoner left at Guantánamo Bay, a detention site in Cuba for the mostly Muslim men taken into custody around the world in the US “war on terror.”
US officials say Rahim, who has been held there without charge since 2008, was a senior aide in Al Qaeda, the terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden that carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks. Others say he held a much lesser role as a courier and translator and is not a national security threat.
“His mother has been protesting and made several demands for his release,” the Taliban leader said.
The Taliban leader, who said he has participated in some of the meetings with US officials, confirmed that the Taliban had captured three American nationals in the past two years.
