Engineer in exchange for narco-terrorist: Taliban-US prisoner swap raises questions over re-engagement
Haji Bashir Noorzai released after decades of detention by the US
A top Taliban official named Haji Bashir Noorzai has been released after decades in American custody and arrived in Kabul on Monday, according to a Taliban spokesperson.
He was one of the final Afghans detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, according to sources in the Afghan state media.
According to the Taliban's acting foreign minister, the US freed the official on Monday in exchange for the Taliban releasing American engineer Mark Frerichs.
"Honorable Haji Bashir was released after two decades of imprisonment and arrived in Kabul today," said Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesperson based in Doha, in a Tweet.
TheAfghan tribal chief namedBashir Noorzai was detained and accused of bringing more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States.
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Later, Noorzai's attorney denied that his client was a drug dealer and argued that the accusations against him should be dropped since American government agents had deceived him into thinking he would not be detained.
Also read |Where is Masood Azhar? Pakistan says 'ungoverned spaces' in Afghanistan safe havens for terrorists
At a press conference in Kabul, acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi informed the media that they had traded Frerichs on Monday morning and received Haji Bashir Noorzai, who had spent decades in American detention after being accused of drug offences.
Engineer Frerichs, a veteran of the U.S. Navy from Lombard, Illinois, spent ten years working on development projects in Afghanistan. He was kidnapped at the start of February 2020.
Mark Frerichs, a contractor from Illinois, who was kidnapped in January 2020 in the Afghan capital, Kabul has now been released. AP
The swap raises pertinent questions on the Taliban-US re-engagement postAyman al-Zawahiri's killing in July. Additionally, US's bowing down to Taliban's demands and the Taliban's arm-twisting tactics also form important realms of discussionhere.
(With inputs from agencies)
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