By Andrea Shalal and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with the households of three Individuals detained in Afghanistan by its Taliban rulers since 2022, and emphasised his dedication to bringing dwelling Individuals wrongfully held abroad, the White Home mentioned.
Biden’s administration has been negotiating with the Taliban since at the very least July a couple of U.S. proposal to launch the three Individuals – Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi – in change for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a high-profile prisoner held in Guantanamo Bay, Reuters reported final week, citing a supply accustomed to the discussions.
Efforts to safe the discharge of the Individuals proceed, a second supply accustomed to the initiative mentioned on Sunday.
Corbett and Habibi have been detained in separate incidents in August 2022 a 12 months after the Taliban seized Kabul amid the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal. Glezmann was detained later in 2022 whereas visiting as a vacationer.
Ahmad Habibi, Mahmood Habibi’s brother, who was on the decision on Sunday, welcomed the dialogue with Biden.
“President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go,” he mentioned. “He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother.”
The Taliban, which denies holding Habibi, had countered the U.S. proposal with a suggestion to change Glezmann and Corbett for Rahim and two others, one of many sources instructed Reuters final week.
The White Home famous that Biden has introduced dwelling greater than 75 Individuals unjustly detained all over the world, together with from Myanmar, China, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Venezuela and West Africa. His administration additionally introduced dwelling all Individuals detained in Afghanistan earlier than the U.S. navy withdrawal, it mentioned.
“President Biden and his team have worked around the clock, often in partnership with key allies, to negotiate for the release of Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad so that they can be reunited with their families, and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the term,” it added.
A Senate intelligence committee report on the company’s so-called enhanced interrogation program known as Rahim an “al Qaeda facilitator” and mentioned he was arrested in Pakistan in June 2007 and “rendered” to the CIA the next month.
He was stored in a secret CIA “black site,” the place he was subjected to powerful interrogation strategies, together with in depth sleep deprivation, after which despatched to Guantanamo Bay in March 2008, the report mentioned.
Biden final week despatched 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, lowering the prisoner inhabitants on the detention middle in Cuba by practically half as a part of its effort to shut the ability because the president prepares to go away workplace on Jan. 20.
