Taliban say 2 Americans freed in prisoner swap, Ryan Corbett’s family says he’s one of them

Islamabad, Pakistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced Tuesday the release of two Americans in a prisoner exchange.

The Taliban’s foreign ministry in Kabul did not name the two American citizens but said they had been exchanged for Khan Muhammad, who was arrested in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province two decades ago and is serving a life sentence in a California prison.

Ryan Corbett’s family said early Tuesday that he was one of the Americans in exchange, adding that their hearts were filled with “immense gratitude for keeping his life alive and bringing him home after the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives.”

Corbett, who was living in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the fall of the US-backed government in 2021, was kidnapped by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.

In a statement, the family thanked President Trump, former President Joe Biden, numerous officials of their administrations and Qatar for making Corbett’s release possible, and expressed hope that two other Americans who had been detained in Afghanistan would also be freed.

There was no information on who the other American the Taliban said had been freed was – George Glezmann or Mahmoud Habibi – or US confirmation of the status of any of the three.

The Taliban ministry said the exchange was the result of “long and fruitful negotiations” with the US and a good example of solving problems through dialogue.

“The Islamic Emirate looks positively at the actions of the United States of America that help normalize and develop relations between the two countries,” the statement said.

last week, Biden spoke with the relatives of the three Americans the U.S. government was trying to bring them home from Afghanistan, but at the time there was no deal to bring them back, family members said.