Taliban announce the release of two Americans held in Afghanistan in a prisoner exchange

Jan 20, 2025 | 10:19 PM

ISLAMABAD (AP) — 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, who was arrested in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar two decades ago and has been serving a life sentence in a California prison.

The family of Ryan Corbett, one of the Americans in the exchange, said Tuesday their hearts were filled with “overwhelming gratitude for sustaining his life and bringing him back home after what had been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives.”

Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government, was abducted by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.