By Special Correspondent
Kabul: Following the the law of Quran and Sunnah, the Taliban released an American engineer in a prisoner swap.
The Taliban didn’t release much detail to the media yet. However, authorities in Kabul said the American engineer Mr. Frerichs was swapped with a senior Taliban figure who has been languishing in US’s custody since 2005.The Taliban said they exchanged American engineer Mark Frerichs in exchange for the United States freeing a senior Taliban
“Today, Mark Frerichs was handed over to the US, and Haji Bashar was handed over to us at Kabul airport,” Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a press conference in the capital on Monday.
The US Navy veteran was working in Afghanistan as a civil engineer on construction projects at a time of his arrest in January 2020.
Meanwhile, Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader, was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the US. Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesperson, based in Doha posted a picture of him back in Kabul.
The US authorities are yet to comment on the development. However, analysts are considering this swap as significant step which may pave the way for restoration of Taliban-US relationship.
