The United States has released a top Taliban drug lord from prison and has exchanged him with an American citizen held captive in Afghanistan.
Notorious drug lord Bashir Noorzai, who was imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay, was released after spending 17 years and six months in American custody. He was also the last Taliban member in at the detention centre in Cuba.
Noorzai was released in exchange for American national Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran and a contractor abducted in Afghanistan in January 2020.
The Taliban regime's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the exchange marked the start of a "new era" in US-Taliban relations.
Experts have highlighted that the release of the Taliban leader suggests that the United States is willing to engage with the Taliban despite terrorist group Al Qaeda reemerging in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, evident with the discovery of former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghan capital Kabul where he was killed in a US airstrike.
"This signals a lot of things, mainly good news for the Taliban and message to the international community that the United States is engaging Talibs despite Al-Zawahiri's killing," said journalist Anas Mallick on Twitter.
Who is Talian drug lord Bashir Noorzai?
Bashir Noorzai is a drug kingpin of the Talibam and was in the past associated with Mullah Omar, the founder and former leader of the Taliban.
Noorzai was charged with conspiring to import more than $50 million worth of heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan into the United States and other countries, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The DEA said, "Noorzai led an international heroin-trafficking organization responsible for manufacturing and transporting heroin in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Noorzai Organization then arranged for the heroin to be imported into the United States and other countries and sold for tens of millions of dollars.
It further charged him with providing the Taliban with demolitions, weaponry, and manpower.
Who is Mark Frerichs?
Mark Frerichs is a Navy veteran and a civilian contractor abducted in Afghanistan on January 31, 2020. He was last seen in a video earlier this year, pleading for his release so that he can be reunited with his family, according to a recording posted by The New Yorker magazine at the time. In the video, Frerichs says it was filmed last November.
Frerichs, of Lombard, Illinois, was believed to be held by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, and US officials across two presidential administrations have tried unsuccessfully to get him home.
There was no independent confirmation or word from Washington on Frerichs' release.
Experts noted that the Taliban denied until his release that Frerichs were in their captivity.
"For years, the Taliban have denied having him under their custody. This just shows that Taliban lie (taqiya) when needed," said Faran Jeffery, Deputy Director of think tank Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism.
(With AP inputs)
