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The Biden administration is reportedly negotiating with the Taliban to exchange three Americans held in Afghanistan with a Guantanamo Bay prisoner believed to have been close to Osama bin Laden. .
According to The Wall, the talks have been going on since at least July last year and involve Mohammad Rahim al-Afghani, a senior al-Qaeda aide, and George George, an American national captured in Afghanistan in 2022. The exchange includes Glezman, Ryan Corbett and Mahmoud Habibi. Street Journal.
After the White House proposed the exchange in November, the Taliban counter-planned by demanding Rahim and two others in exchange for Glezman and Corbett, the paper said.
Camp VI detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, April 2019. (AP/Alex Brandon, File)
Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee told the newspaper that they were later informed by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a classified meeting on Dec. 17, 2024, that Biden was still considering the proposal. said. One attendee added that during the meeting, panel chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) expressed concern that the Taliban’s counter-proposal would not be a good deal for the United States.
“The safety and security of Americans overseas is one of the Biden-Harris Administration’s top priorities, and we are working around the clock to ensure the safe return of George, Ryan, and Mahmoud.” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savet recently told The Wall. Street Journal.
The newspaper said Glezman and Corbett had been declared unlawfully detained by the State Department, but the Taliban denied holding Habibi.
Corbett, a consultant, was reportedly arrested in the summer of 2022 while traveling about 300 miles northwest of Kabul with a German colleague. Glezman, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, was captured by the Taliban in December while on a tour of the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Habibi went missing after the US killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul that year, the paper added.
Mahmoud Habibi’s brother, Ahmad Habibi, told the Wall Street Journal: “My family is confident that Mahmoud is alive and in joint custody of the Taliban and the Haqqani Network.” he said. “We have a lot of evidence. If the Taliban are after Rahim, their best chance of getting him is to free his brother.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for the latest information.
Greg Norman is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
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