US in talks with Afghan Taliban to 'swap detained Americans for Guantanamo prisoner'

The United States is in talks with the Taliban government to exchange Americans detained in Afghanistan for at least one high-profile prisoner, alleged to be an associate of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, held in Guantanamo Bay.

Representatives for the White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Representatives for the Afghan Taliban also did not immediately respond.

US President Joe Biden's administration is seeking the return of three Americans seized in 2022 — Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi — in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, the WSJ reported.

Corbett and Habibi were detained in separate incidents in August 2022 a year after the Taliban seized Kabul amid a chaotic US withdrawal. Glezmann was detained later in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.

Afghani is an Afghan man described as a high-level al Qaeda operative who was transferred to Guantanamo in 2008 from CIA custody.

The talks have been in motion since July, according to the WSJ, which cited sources who attended a classified House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing last month with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The report comes after Biden's administration on Monday sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, slashing the prisoner population at the detention center in Cuba by nearly half as part of its effort to close the facility as the president prepares to leave office January 20.

"The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," the US military said in a statement.