- The United States seeks the return of Americans in exchange for Rahim al-Afghani.
- Muhammad Afghani is described as a high-level Al Qaeda agent.
- The report comes after the United States sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman.
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is negotiating with Afghanistan to exchange Americans detained in the country for at least one high-profile prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay with alleged ties to former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Representatives from the White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Representatives of the Afghan Taliban also did not immediately respond.
US President Joe Biden's administration is seeking the return of three detained Americans in 2022 (Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi) in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, the WSJ reported.
Corbett and Habibi were detained in separate incidents in August 2022, a year after the Taliban took Kabul amid a chaotic US withdrawal. Glezmann was arrested later in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.
Afghani is an Afghan described as a high-level Al Qaeda operative who was transferred to Guantánamo in 2008 from CIA custody.
Talks have been underway since July, according to the WSJwhich cited sources who attended a classified House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing last month with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The report comes after the Biden administration sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman on Monday, reducing the prisoner population at the detention center in Cuba by nearly half as part of its effort to close the facility while the president He is preparing to leave office on January 20.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the U.S. military said in a statement. .
