Afghanistan: exchange of prisoners between the United States and the Taliban

The Taliban handed over a US Navy veteran detained for more than two years to the United States on Monday (September 19th) in exchange for the release of a key member of the Taliban regime, the Taliban foreign minister said.

“

,” Amir Khan Muttaqi told a press conference in the capital.

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Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan warlord and Taliban member imprisoned for life in the United States for heroin trafficking, arrived in Kabul on Sunday evening, several Afghan government officials said.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that Bashir Noorzai did not hold an official position in the Taliban, but had "

", during the the emergence of the movement in the 1990s.