KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday announced that his government has released three prominent Taliban figures in an effort to get the insurgents to free an American and an Australian professor they abducted in 2016 and have held captive for over three years.
At a press event broadcast live on state television, Ghani told the nation the release was a very hard decision he felt he had to make in the interest of the Afghan people. Maximize your VA Loan Benefits Check your VA Loan eligibility and get up to $484K today! Click Here!
The announcement comes at a sensitive time for Ghani, as President Donald Trump halted talks between the U.S. and the Taliban in September, after a particularly deadly spate of Taliban attacks, including a Kabul suicide bombing that killed a U.S. soldier.
Also, the future of Ghani’s government is in doubt as the results from the Sept. 28 presidential elections have not been released yet. Preliminary results are expected on Nov. 14.
The three members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network that Ghani said were released include Anas Haqqani, Haji Mali Khan and Hafiz Rashid. Ghani added that they are being released “conditionally in exchange” for the two professors.
The three were under the custody of the Afghan government, Ghani said, and were held at the Bagram prison, an air base that also houses U.S. troops just outside Kabul. The Afghan president didn’t elaborate or say when or where the three were released. They were most likely sent to Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office.
Global News 
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