‘American Taliban’ Lindh released

WASHINGTON: John Walker Lindh, the US Muslim convert who came to be known as the “American Taliban” after being captured while fighting in Afghanistan in 2001, was released on Thursday after serving 17 years in a federal prison.

The US Bureau of Prisons confirmed his early morning release from the federal high security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. His lawyer Bill Cummings told CNN that 38-year-old Lindh, suspected by some of still harboring radical Islamic views, will settle in Virginia under strict probation terms that limit his ability to go online or contact other Islamists.

Known as “Detainee 001” in the US War on Terror, Lindh’s early release on an original 20-year sentence has resurrected memories of the September 11 attacks, when he became for many Americans one of the faces of the jihadist threat against the United States.

But his release also underscores that, almost two decades later, the US remains mired in a fight with the Taliban with no end in sight. Other than that he will settle in Virginia, the state abutting the US capital Washington, there was no information about Lindh’s plans.

His family, which lives near San Francisco, California, has not recently commented on his case and could not immediately be contacted Thursday.

His release comes amid concerns that he may not have abandoned support for hardline Islamic thinking while incarcerated. Lindh, 38, earned a three-year early release from the Indiana prison for good behavior.