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.

In a significant diplomatic development, two Americans detained in Afghanistan have been released in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban. This exchange occurred in the final hours of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan's Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday.

We celebrate the release of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty who will soon reunited with their families and loved ones,” National Security spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

The United States has freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and terrorism in exchange for two US citizens held in Afghanistan, authorities in Kabul said on Tuesday (Jan 21).

President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with relatives of three Americans the U.S. government is looking to bring home from Afghanistan, but it was unclear from the call if a deal to bring them back that is now on the table could be completed before the he leaves office next week.

Ryan Corbett, an American detained in Afghanistan, was released amid the U.S. presidential transition, according to his family.

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,

The last-minute deal was the final capstone in Biden’s campaign to release dozens of Americans detained abroad.