Washington (Agencies): The Biden administration is engaged in ongoing negotiations with the Taliban to secure the release of three Americans held in Afghanistan in exchange for a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Tuesday.
The deal under discussion involves the potential swap of Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani – a Guantanamo detainee alleged to have links to Osama bin Laden – for Americans Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi, who were detained in 2022.
The Taliban has reportedly countered the US offer by requesting the release of Rahim and two other Afghan prisoners in exchange for Corbett and Glezmann. The group denies holding Habibi, complicating negotiations.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan informed Congress on December 17 that President Joe Biden has not yet decided on the Taliban’s latest proposal. Families of the detainees have expressed growing frustration over the slow progress.
Anna Corbett, the wife of detainee Ryan Corbett, urged the administration to prioritize the return of wrongfully detained Americans. “He is running out of time to show these are more than empty words for families like mine,” she told the WSJ.
The State Department has officially designated Corbett and Glezmann as wrongfully detained, enabling greater diplomatic resources to facilitate their release. However, the FBI believes Habibi was likely taken by Afghan forces, and his case has not received the same designation.
Rahim, the prisoner at the center of the negotiations, was identified in a 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report as an “al-Qaeda facilitator.” Captured in Pakistan in 2007, he was transferred to CIA custody and subjected to enhanced interrogation before being sent to Guantanamo in 2008. Rahim has consistently denied links to al-Qaeda, claiming he worked as a linguist in Afghanistan.
His lawyer, James Connell, described the charges against Rahim as exaggerated, emphasizing that no substantial evidence has surfaced during his 17 years of detention. Connell referred to Rahim as the last prisoner to enter the CIA’s post-9/11 detention and interrogation program.
The negotiations highlight the complex diplomatic challenges facing the Biden administration as it seeks to secure the release of Americans while managing the political implications of freeing Guantanamo detainees.