US, Afghan Taliban ‘in talks to swap detainees’

• US seeks return of Americans in exchange for Rahim al-Afghani.
• Muhammad Afghani described as high-level al Qaeda operative.
• Report comes after US sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman.

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is negotiating with Afghanistan to exchange Americans detained in the country for at least one high-profile prisoner held in Guantanamo Bay with alleged ties to former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Representatives for the White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Representatives for the Afghan Taliban also did not immediately respond.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking the return of three Americans seized in 2022 — Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi — in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, the WSJ reported.

Corbett and Habibi were detained in separate incidents in August 2022 a year after the Taliban seized Kabul amid a chaotic US withdrawal. Glezmann was detained later in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.

Afghani is an Afghan man described as a high-level al Qaeda operative who was transferred to Guantanamo in 2008 from CIA custody.

The talks have been in motion since July, according to the WSJ, which cited sources who attended a classified House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing last month with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The report comes after Biden’s administration on Monday sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, slashing the prisoner population at the detention center in Cuba by nearly half as part of its effort to close the facility as the president prepares to leave office January 20.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the US military said in a statement.