The Biden administration reportedly has been negotiating with the Taliban to swap three Americans being held in Afghanistan for a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who is alleged to have been a close associate of Usama bin Laden.
The talks, which have been ongoing since at least July of last year, involve exchanging suspected senior Al Qaeda aide Muhammad Rahim al Afghani for American citizens George Glezmann, Ryan Corbett and Mahmoud Habibi, who were detained in Afghanistan in 2022, according to The Wall Street Journal.
After the White House proposed that swap in November, the Taliban counteroffered, asking for Rahim and two others in exchange for Glezmann and Corbett, the newspaper reported.
House Foreign Affairs Committee members told the newspaper that they later were informed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan during a Dec. 17, 2024, classified session that Biden was still mulling the offer. One attendee added that during the meeting, panel chair Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, expressed concern that the Taliban’s counteroffer wasn’t a good deal for the U.S.
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“The safety and security of Americans overseas is one of the Biden-Harris Administration’s top priorities, and we are working around the clock to ensure George, Ryan and Mahmoud’s safe return,” Sean Savett, a National Security Council spokesman, recently told The Wall Street Journal.
Glezmann and Corbett have been declared by the State Department as wrongfully detained, while the Taliban denies holding Habibi, the newspaper says.
Corbett, a consultant, reportedly was seized in the summer of 2022 while traveling with a German colleague about 300 miles northwest of Kabul. Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, then was detained by the Taliban in December during a tour of the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Habibi vanished the same year following the U.S. killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, with the FBI suspecting he was detained by Afghan military or security forces, it added.
“My family is confident that Mahmoud is alive and remains in the joint custody of the Taliban and the Haqqani network,” Ahmad Habibi, a brother of Mahmoud Habibi, told The Wall Street Journal. “We have a lot of evidence. If the Taliban wants Rahim, releasing my brother is their best shot at getting him.”
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The families of the detained Americans – who say that Glezmann and Corbett are in failing health – reportedly have been advocating for two years for the Biden administration to help secure their release.
“I want to take seriously the president’s pledge that returning wrongfully detained Americans is a top priority, but he is running out of time to show these are more than empty words for families like mine that are not famous or well connected,” Anna Corbett, Ryan Corbett’s wife, said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.
“After all, I haven’t even been able to get a meeting with him despite 16 trips to D.C. to fight for Ryan’s release, so it’s hard to continue to have faith that he will use his power to bring my husband home,” she added.
The newspaper reported that the Taliban has long sought the release of Rahim, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since 2008.
At the time of his transfer there, the Department of Defense alleged that Rahim was a close associate of bin Laden, it added.
Then in November 2023, the Guantanamo Bay prison review board cited Rahim’s work for senior Al Qaeda members and his participation in attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan as reasons to keep him in custody, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Rahim reportedly wrote a letter that year to the board describing himself as older and in poor health, while adding that if he is released he would like to pursue his love of cooking and possibly open a food truck or booth.
“I am confident that the United States does not fear that I would return to a battlefield that no longer exists,” The Wall Street Journal cited him as saying.
The developments come as the Biden administration on Monday announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees, including two former bodyguards for bin Laden, being held at a U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to Oman, which has agreed to help re-settle them, amid steps to reduce the population at the controversial military facility.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
