The United States🌄 has released a top Taliban drug lord from prison and has exchanged hᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚim with an American citizen held captive in Afghanistan.
Notorious drug lord Bashir Noorzai, who was imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay, was released after spending 17 yearꩵs and six months in American custoওdy. He was also the last Taliban member in at the detention centre in Cuba.
Noorzai was released in exchange for American national Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteraꦓn and a contracto🔯r abducted in Afghanistan in January 2020.
The Taliban regime's Foreign Minister Am♛ir Khan Muttaqi said the exchange marked the start 💦of a "new era" in US-Taliban relations.
Experts have highlighted that t🐎he release of the Taliban leader suggests that the United States is willing to engage with the Taliban despite terrorist group Al Qaeda reemerging in Afghanistan under Taliౠban rule, evident with the discovery of former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghan capital Kabul where he was killed in a US airstrike.
"This signals a lot of things, mainly good news for the Taliban and message to the internatio𝓀nal community that the United States is engaging Talibs despite Al-Zawahiri's killing," said journalist Anas Mallick on Twitter.
Who is Talian drug lord Bashir Noorzai?
Bashir Noorzai is a drug kingpin of the Talibam and was in the past associated with Mullah Omar, the founder♔ and former leader of the Taliban.
Noorzai was charged with c♓onspiring to import more than $50 millio♑n worth of heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan into the United States and other countries, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The DEA said, "Noorzai led an international 🦂heroin-trafficking organization responsible for manufacturing and transporting heroin in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Noorzai Organization then arranged for the heroin to be imported into the United States and other countries and sold for tens of millions of dollars.
It further charged him with providing the Taliba🔴n with demolitions, weaponry, and manpower.
Who is Mark Frerichs?
Mark Frerichs is a Navy veteran and a civilian contractor abducted in Afghanistan on January 31, 2020. He was last seen in a video earlier this year, pleading for his release so that he can be reunited with his family, according to a recording posted by The New Yorker 🤡magazine at the time. In the video, Frerichs says it was filmed last November.
Frerichs, of Lombard, Illinois, was believed to be held by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, and US💎 officials across two presidential administrations have tried unsucces♛sfully to get him home.
There was no independent confirmation or woꦛrd from Washington on Frerichs' release.
Experts 🔥noted that the Taliban denied until his release that Frerichs were in the♔ir captivity.
"For years, the Taliban have denied having him under their custody. This just shows that Taliban lie (taqiya) wཧhen needed," said Faran Jeffery, Deputy Director of think tank Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorꩲism.
(With AP inputs)
