Afghanistan's Taliban government announced on Tuesday the release of two Americans in a prisoner exchange. The Taliban's Foreign Ministry in Kabul did not name the two U.S. citizens, but said they were exchanged for Khan Muhammad,

In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: the Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison.

The Taliban had confirmed they were holding Ryan Corbett, who was arrested in August 2022 and whom the State Department had classified as wrongfully detained.

The prisoner exchange was finalized during the final hours of the Biden administration and comes amid ongoing tensions between the US and Afghanistan.

Adam Goldman and Julian Barnes reported from Washington, and Carol Rosenberg from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In one of its final acts, the Biden administration secured the release of two Americans held in Afghanistan in a prisoner swap for a Taliban member imprisoned in the United States on narcotics charges.

The Taliban government said Tuesday it had released American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.

Following extensive and productive negotiations between Afghanistan and the US, an agreement was reached facilitating the release of an Afghan Mujahid, Khan Mohammad, from a US prison in exchange for the release of American nationals,

The two were exchanged for a man arrested in eastern Afghanistan two decades ago who has been serving a life sentence in a California prison.

The Taliban has released two American citizens in a prisoner exchange negotiated by the outgoing Biden administration, US media reports and the families of the two men said. The two Americans – Ryan Corbett and William McKenty – were exchanged for a member of the Afghan Taliban named Khan Mohammed who was convicted in 2008 on narco-terrorism charges.