Taliban Say They Freed US, Australian Hostage for 3 Taliban – By The Canadian Press (Military.com) / Nov 19 2019
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban said they freed on Tuesday an American and an Australian hostage held since 2016 in exchange for three top Taliban figures who were released by the Kabul government and flown out of Afghanistan the previous day.
The hostages — American, Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks — were released in southern Zabul province, ending their more than three years in captivity.
According to a Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media, the release took place in the province’s Now Bahar district, a region largely under Taliban control.
It wasn’t immediately known if the two hostages, both professors at the American University of Kabul, were handed over to Afghan government representatives, intermediaries, or U.S. forces.
Their freedom came hours after the Afghan government freed three Taliban prisoners and sent them to Qatar. They included Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of the Taliban’s deputy Sirajuddin Haqqani, who also leads the fearsome Haqqani network.
Continue to article: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/11/19/taliban-say-they-freed-us-australian-hostage-3-taliban.html
In this May 3, 2019, photo, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks on the last day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
