The Biden administration is currently in discussions with Afghanistan regarding the potential exchange of Americans held in the country for at least one prominent prisoner incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, who is believed to have connections to former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. State Department provided immediate comments on the report, and representatives from the Afghan Taliban also did not respond right away.
According to the WSJ, President Joe Biden’s administration is aiming to secure the release of three Americans—Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi—who were captured in 2022, in return for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani. Corbett and Habibi were taken in separate incidents in August 2022, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul during a tumultuous U.S. withdrawal, while Glezmann was detained later that year while traveling as a tourist.
Al-Afghani is identified as a high-ranking al Qaeda operative who was moved to Guantanamo in 2008 after being held by the CIA. The negotiations have reportedly been ongoing since July, as noted by the WSJ, which referenced sources who participated in a classified briefing with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan last month. This report follows the Biden administration’s recent transfer of 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, significantly reducing the prison population at the facility in Cuba as part of efforts to close it before the president’s term ends on January 20.
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