Washington confirms fundamentalists' announcement and claims to be in Qatar

Taliban release last US prisoner in Afghanistan

photo_camera AFP/WAKIL KOHSAR - Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid (centre) speaks to the media at Kabul airport on 31 August 2022

US President Joe Biden confirmed the release on Monday of Mark Frerichs, considered the last US prisoner held by the Taliban and who is now in Qatar, following a prisoner exchange with the Islamist group. 

In a statement, Biden, who is in the UK on Monday to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, explained that he had spoken to the sister of the now ex-held prisoner to tell her the news. 

He acknowledged that his country had had to make "difficult decisions" to bring negotiations with the Taliban to a successful conclusion. 

Earlier, Afghan interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had announced Frerichs' release in exchange for the US release of drug trafficker Haji Bashir Noorzai, a key ally of the fundamentalists who had been held in a US prison for 17 years. 

In a call with journalists, senior US administration officials said that, after a preliminary medical examination, Frerichs' condition is "stable". They noted that negotiations with the Taliban were "tough" and have lasted months. 

They decided to accept the Islamist group's condition to release Noorzai in order to secure the American's release after consulting with experts and seeing that the drug trafficker's release posed no risk to the US

The source said that after the August bombing that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the US told the Taliban that if anything happened to Frerichs, it would hold them fully responsible.

Frerichs is a US military veteran who was working as a civilian engineer on development projects in Afghanistan when he was abducted by the Taliban.

Last January, on the two-year anniversary of his capture, Biden demanded his release from the Taliban and warned them that there would be no international recognition if his compatriot was not freed.  

Recognition of the Taliban government, which took power in Kabul on 15 August 2021, is one of the main obstacles facing the Islamists, a situation that prevents access to international aid or their funds abroad.  

For his part, Noorzai has been an important ally of the Taliban since the formation of the insurgent group in 1994 and has been one of its main donors, very close to the organisation's founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Coordinator America: José Antonio Sierra

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