WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is in talks with Afghanistan to facilitate the exchange of American detainees in the country for at least one high-profile prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, who is alleged to have connections to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Representatives for the White House, the US State Department, and the Afghan Taliban did not comment on the report.
The Biden administration is working to secure the release of three Americans—Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi—who were captured in 2022, in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Corbett and Habibi were taken into custody in separate incidents in August 2022 a year after the Taliban took over Kabul amid an abrupt US withdrawal. Glezmann was detained in 2022 while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist.
As per media reports, Afghani is a high-level al Qaeda operative who was transferred to Guantanamo in 2008 from the custody of the CIA.
According to the Wall Street Journal, talks have been underway since July. The report follows Monday’s decision by the Biden administration to transfer 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, reducing the prisoner population at the Cuban facility by nearly half.
This move is part of the administration’s ongoing effort to close Guantanamo before President Biden leaves office on January 20.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the US military said in a statement.
In 2023, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress of his intent to support this repatriation.
The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said that among the 11 detainees shifted to Oman this week, was Sharqawi al-Hajj, who had undergone repeated hunger strikes and hospitalisations at Guantanamo to protest his 21 years in prison, which came after two years of detention and torture by the CIA.
