The Afghan government on Monday handed over a US Navy officer, detained for more than two years in the country, in exchange for the release of a member of the Taliban regime, the Afghan foreign minister said.
Today, Mark Frerichs was handed over to the United States and Haji Bashir was returned to us at Kabul airport,” Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference.
Haji Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan warlord and Taliban member who was jailed in the United States after being sentenced to life in prison for heroin trafficking, arrived in Kabul on Sunday night, several Afghan government officials said.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AFP news agency that Bashir Noorzai did not hold an official position among the Taliban, but “provided significant support, including weapons”during the rise of the movement in the 1990s.
Afghanistan fell to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, during the withdrawal of US troops from the ground, which ended on August 30, 2021, after 20 years in the country.
Unemployment, hunger, child labor and girls covered from head to toe, and out of school. One year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan
Source: Observadora
