U.S. Weighs Swap With Taliban to Free American Hostages

The Biden administration, which has been discussing a deal with the Taliban since at least July, told the group on Nov. 14 that the U.S. would release Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, who the U.S. government alleges was a senior al Qaeda aide, if the Afghan rulers released George Glezman, Ryan Corbett and Mahmood Habibi, U.S. citizens seized in Afghanistan in 2022.

The Taliban counteroffered that day, seeking Rahim and two others in exchange for Glezman and Corbett. The Taliban deny holding Habibi.

President Biden had yet to decide on the proposal, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told House Foreign Affairs Committee members in a Dec. 17 classified session, attendees said in interviews with The Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), the panel chair, expressed concern that it wasn't a good deal, one of the people said. McCaul's office declined to comment.

Roger Carstens, the administration's top hostage negotiator, recently completed a trip to Doha, Qatar, where he spoke with Taliban representatives about the U.S. citizens' release. A U.S. official said Carstens made a new, "significant offer" to the Taliban last weekend.

Afghanistan has proved a political thorn after Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country led to a messy exit and the Taliban's return to power. Freeing one or more Afghan prisoners deemed a national security threat in exchange for U.S. civilians risks even more political fallout.

"The safety and security of Americans overseas is one of the Biden-Harris Administration's top priorities, and we are working around the clock to ensure George, Ryan and Mahmoud's safe return," said Sean Savett, a National Security Council spokesman.

A Taliban spokesman declined to comment, but the group has long said it would trade U.S. citizens for Afghan prisoners held by the U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, has denounced past deals Biden, a Democrat, struck with adversarial powers.

Brian Hughes, a Trump transition spokesman, said the president-elect "is committed to securing the release of all American hostages who have been wrongfully detained."

The families of the detained U.S. citizens have advocated for two years for the Biden administration to take action to get them released and have expressed frustration at what they describe as the lack of progress.

In a Dec. 15 email to senior U.S. officials viewed by the Journal, Aleksandra Glezmann, George Glezmann's wife, said her husband now thinks trips to Washington "are just a waste of life because his government doesn't care anyway, and that he will likely rot in jail and never come home alive." Sullivan and Carstens were among the recipients of the email.

The Glezmann family has long expressed frustration with the administration. The family is open to the idea of negotiating directly with the Taliban instead of relying on the White House and State Department.

Anna Corbett, Ryan Corbett's wife, also expressed frustration with the administration and questioned Biden's dedication to securing her husband's release.

"I want to take seriously the president's pledge that returning wrongfully detained Americans is a top priority, but he is running out of time to show these are more than empty words for families like mine that are not famous or well connected," she said. "After all, I haven't even been able to get a meeting with him despite 16 trips to D.C. to fight for Ryan's release, so it's hard to continue to have faith that he will use his power to bring my husband home."

The State Department has labeled Glezmann and Corbett as wrongfully detained, giving the administration more authority and resources to negotiate for their release. Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, was touring Afghanistan when the Taliban seized him in December 2022. Corbett, a consultant traveling with a German colleague 300 miles northwest of Kabul, was taken by the Taliban the preceding summer. Glezmann and Corbett are in failing health, their families said.

Habibi disappeared in 2022 after the U.S. killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it believes Habibi was taken by Afghan military or security forces. He hasn't been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained.

"My family is confident that Mahmoud is alive and remains in the joint custody of the Taliban and the Haqqani network," said Ahmad Habibi, a brother of Mahmoud Habibi.

Taliban officials have long sought the release of Rahim, who has been held in extrajudicial detention since 2008, a senior U.S. official and other people with knowledge of relevant discussions said.

The Defense Department said at the time of Rahim's transfer to Guantanamo that he had been a close associate of bin Laden and one of his most trusted facilitators and procurement specialists.

Rahim has consistently denied the charges, maintaining he functioned as a linguist in Afghanistan. The Senate's 2014 torture report says Rahim was subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the Central Intelligence Agency, such as sleep deprivation.

The U.S. government has said it considers Rahim a significant threat to national security and for years has been resistant to discussing an exchange for him. In November 2023, the Guantanamo Bay prison review board cited his work for senior al Qaeda members, including bin Laden, and participation in attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan for keeping him in custody.

In a letter that year to the board, Rahim described himself as older, wiser and in poor health. "I am confident that the United States does not fear that I would return to a battlefield that no longer exists," he said.