Taliban frees U.S., Australian hostages

Extremists in Afghanistan released American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks on Tuesday in exchange for three high-ranking Taliban prisoners. The group held King and Weeks, who worked as professors at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, for three years after their abduction outside the school in 2016.

Why were they released? Afghan officials hope the prisoner swap will help restart peace talks between the Taliban and the United States. Discussions to end the 18-year war stalled in September after the extremist group ramped up its attacks, killing one U.S. service member. The released Taliban extremists are all family members of senior Taliban leaders, including Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of the group’s deputy, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is also the leader of the Haqqani insurgent network. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last week said he made the hard decision in the interest of the Afghan people.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about why the United States ended peace talks with the Taliban.