The Taliban freed two Westerners they had held for more than three years on Tuesday, following the release of senior figures of the group.
American Kevin King, 63, and Australian Timothy Weeks, 50, teachers at the American University in Kabul who were abducted in 2016, were released to US forces in eastern Afghanistan, New York Times reported citing an unidentified US official.
The official said that the due appeared to be in fair health.
Earlier, Anas Haqqani, a leader of Taliban’s Haqqani militant faction, and two other senior Taliban figures were transferred to Qatar, home to Taliban’s political leadership, for the prisoner swap.
Taliban in a statement welcomed the swap as confidence-buidling move that would help peace process.
Australian PM Scott Morrison tweeted: “We are profoundly pleased and relieved Australian Tim Weeks & his US colleague, Kevin King, who were held hostage since August 2016, have been released by their kidnappers today in Afghanistan. We convey deep appreciation to the Governments of US & Afghanistan.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan also welcomed the hostages’ release, hoping it would boost confidence to all parties involved to re-engage in the peace process.
