Taliban Frees US Engineer in Prisoner Swap for Afghan Tribal Leader

The Taliban freed an American engineer, Mark Frerichs, who was abducted in Afghanistan in February 2020, in a prisoner swap. Frerichs, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade as an engineer on development projects, was exchanged at Kabul Airport on Monday for Afghan tribal leader Bashir Noorzai who was detained by the United States on suspicion of smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the US and Europe. Noorzai has had longstanding ties to the Taliban. US officials have said the release of Frerichs would influence their view of the legitimacy of a Taliban-led government, according to Reuters. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to solve problems by negotiation with all including the United States,” acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said, using the Taliban’s designation for their country. Noorzai told reporters that he spent 17 years and six months in the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay and that he was the last Taliban prisoner there.