Kabul: An American navy veteran was exchanged for a crucial ally in a prisoner swap between the United States and the Taliban, the foreign minister of Afghanistan announced on Monday.
According to Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mark Frerichs, who was abducted in 2020, was traded for Bashar Noorzai, a warlord and Taliban ally who is currently serving a 17-year sentence in the United States for smuggling heroin.
At the airport in Kabul today, Mark Frerichs was given to the US while Hajji Bashar was given to us, Muttaqi told reporters there.

He added that Frerichs was given to a US delegation and that the exchange took place "after long negotiations."
The former member of the US Navy was working as a civil engineer on building projects in Afghanistan when he was abducted, according to the US State Department.
Noorzai did not hold an official position within the Taliban, according to government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, but she "provided strong support, including weapons," as the hard-line Islamist movement emerged in the 1990s.

India accepts Afghan Sikhs fleeing Taliban terror 'less than 100 remain'

Taliban claims that its fighters were killed in a clash with Pakistani troops over border post

Online shopping services closed under Taliban rule, Afg reeling under severe financial crisis