Afghan students gather at the entrance of Kabul Hussein Malla University last February (AP)
The Taliban released two Americans arrested in Afghanistan on Tuesday, in an agreement the State Department has described as a “goodwill gesture” by Washington’s old adversary.
State Department spokesman Ned Price has confirmed the release of the prisoners and has refused to identify them due to confidentiality rules. Price stressed that the release was not through an exchange of prisoners or anyone else of interest to the Kabul regime. No money was delivered to buy his freedom either, he added.
The two US citizens arrived in Qatar on Tuesday before meeting with their families, two State Department officials said on condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the matter. “We offer all due support to these two American citizens,” Price added.
The spokesman confirmed the news reported by The Washington Post in his daily appearance before the press. Washington, the senior official said, will continue to apply appropriate pressure to persuade the Taliban to extradite every last American arrested in Afghanistan, but he declined to detail how many there are and their circumstances.
Sources close to the deal told CNN that one of those released was filmmaker Ivor Shearer, who was arrested along with his Afghan producer while filming in Kabul in August. The Taliban also freed US engineer Mark Frerichs in September, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan two years ago.
The release comes on the same day the Taliban banned women from universities, prompting strong condemnation from the United States, which warned the decision will have consequences for bearded men. Washington has repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s violations of the rights of women and girls since they returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and has accelerated the withdrawal of US troops from the Central Asian country. A retreat-turned-flight costing President Joe Biden criticism and popularity on the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the catalyst for the so-called war on terror that took the US into Afghanistan.
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With the repatriation of the majority of nationals, Washington vowed not to abandon those who chose to stay behind because of a variety of vital circumstances — employees, contractors, or members of mixed marriages. The collapse of Kabul, which had been a Western-backed government for two decades, also dealt a blow to the CIA’s reputation for failing to anticipate the impending collapse of the regime it backed.
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