The State Department announced that the Taliban released two Americans being held in Afghanistan as a “goodwill gesture.”
“We are in a position to welcome the release of two Americans, two American citizens, detained in Afghanistan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday. Price added: “We are providing these two American citizens with all appropriate assistance.”
The two US citizens reportedly flew from Afghanistan to Qatar on Tuesday, where they were expected to join their families.
TALIBAN OFFICIALLY BAN WOMEN FROM GETTING COLLEGE EDUCATION
US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
(Manuel Balce Cenata/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
While US officials have yet to reveal the identities of the two freed Americans, Voice of America reported Tuesday that one of the Americans is believed to be Ivor Shearer, a US citizen and journalist who was arrested by the Taliban along with his colleague. Afghan in August while filming the site of the US bombing that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Price said no money was exchanged in the release of the prisoners, which he characterized as a “goodwill gesture” by the Taliban.
“We understand this, or at least the Taliban characterize it to us, as a goodwill gesture,” Price said.
Taliban soldiers stand guard in Panjshir province in northeast Afghanistan.
(AP Photo/Mohammad Asif Khan)
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But Price also pointed to the timing of the launch, saying it came just after the United States condemned a Taliban announcement Tuesday that women would be barred from public and private universities.
“The irony of being awarded a goodwill gesture on a day when you are making a gesture like this for the Afghan people is not lost on us,” Price said.
