US officials made a new offer to the Taliban over the weekend to secure the release of Americans held in Afghanistan, according to people familiar with the matter.
American officials declined to discuss the talks or the offer. But people briefed on the talks said the White House was working on a deal to bring the Americans back. Muhammad RahimAfghan held in Guantanamo prison since 2008.
The US government has said Mr Rahim is a senior al Qaeda operative, but others have questioned his role in the organisation, suggesting he was a courier and translator and would not pose a threat to the US if he was. was released.
The Taliban admitted that two Americans had been detained. One of them, George Glezmann, a former aviation mechanic, was traveling in Afghanistan when he was captured in December 2022. Another was Ryan Corbett, who spent a long time in Afghanistan with his family before the fall of the US-backed government. He was on a business trip when he was captured in August 2022.
The Taliban declined to say whether they were holding a third American, who is also wanted by the US government for extradition. That person, American citizen Mahmoud Habibi, was soon captured 2022 US strike in Afghanistan that killed Ayman al-ZawahriAl-Qaeda leader.
Mr. Habibi's family he said he was arrested along with 30 others who all worked for the same American firm, Asia Consultancy Group, on suspicion of involvement in the drone attack that killed the US leader of Qaeda. US officials would not discuss whether Mr Habibi had a role in the strike, and his condition is unknown.
However, his father Ahmedullah and his brother Ahmed denied that he was involved. They said Mr. Habibi was out of the country at the time of the attack and returned to Afghanistan a few days later. They also said, citing “several independent sources in Afghanistan,” that he was alive and last known to be in the custody of the government's General Intelligence Agency.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the Biden administration has negotiated the return of more than 75 Americans detained abroad. He said officers were “working around the clock” to ensure the return of Mr Glezmann, Mr Corbett and Mr Habibi.
“The administration will do that for the rest of the term,” he said.
The administration had previously made an offer to the Taliban on November 14 to secure the release of the three. An earlier suggestion by The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Rahim was never charged with a crime during his detention at Guantanamo. Defense attorney James G. Connell III, who represented Mr. Rahim at the detention review hearing, said Mr. Rahim was willing to be trafficked, but that the United States government had not contacted them.
“I've never had any official confirmation from any government that talks about this have been or are going on,” Mr Connell said.
Mr. Rahim is currently ineligible for transfer from Guantanamo. A federal national security review group has repeatedly deemed him too dangerous to release on November 21, 2023.
But US officials have discussed transferring him to Qatar as part of a prisoner exchange.
The Defense Department is required by law to notify Congress 30 days before a detainee is released from Guantanamo.
But the Obama administration ignored the request when it was sent Five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay Qatar in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in 2014. Like Mr. Rahim, none of these detainees have been released through the national security review panel process.
Republicans criticized the Bergdahl trade, and a Government Accountability Office investigation concluded the Obama administration violated the law.
But Dennis M. Fitzpatrick, attorney for the Glezmann family and former terrorism prosecutorsaid that Mr. Rahim had been classified as unfit for release and that the government had long exaggerated the threat he posed.
“He is no longer a national security threat,” Mr Fitzpatrick said. “He was never operative in terms of being a fighter or an organizer. He is also not an intelligence risk to the United States and has no intelligence value. “If it's not operational and there's no intelligence problem, it's not a threat to national security.”
In a letter to the White House last July, Mr. Glezman's wife, Alexandra Glezmann, spoke of President Biden's longstanding commitment to public service as she pushed for the deal.
“I am asking you to personally intervene in George's case and do everything in your power to bring him home,” she said. “We recognize that the Taliban pose extreme geopolitical challenges for the United States, and we do not suggest that George's release is easy. But you did not enter the civil service to do easy work.”
Mr. Corbett and his family lived in Kabul between 2010 and 2021. After leaving Afghanistan during the American withdrawal, Mr. Corbett returned to support Afghan workers who continued their microcredit and consulting work.
Since his capture, his wife Anna Corbett and their children have been lobbying Washington and the White House for his release.
Both families met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan late last year.