On Jan. 21, the outgoing Biden administration and Trump administration secured the release of Americans Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty from Taliban detention in exchange for Afghan Khan Mohammad, incarcerated on drug and terrorism charges in the United States.
Little is known of McKenty, age 69, as his family has “requested privacy.” Previously, the State Department had not included him in its tally of Americans in Taliban custody.
Corbett is the founder of microloan and consulting group Bloom Afghanistan and had lived in Afghanistan with his family for years prior to the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover. He was arrested after returning to Afghanistan in August 2022.
Corbett’s detention was widely publicized and his deteriorating health condition during his 894 days in Taliban captivity concerned both his family and Congress. He was held in a 9-foot square cell with other detainees, sometimes subjected to solitary confinement, and deprived access to sunlight while fed “scraps of fatty meat.” Corbett was reunited with his family on Jan. 22, but reports say his recovery will be long after his time in Taliban custody, when he suffered from “seizures, fainting, and discolored extremities,” according to a House resolution calling for his immediate release in June 2024.
According to Justice Department documents, the “violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker” who was exchanged for Corbett and McKenty was serving two consecutive life terms in the U.S. Mohammad’s sentence was based on his plans to kill U.S. soldiers with rockets in Afghanistan and his attempt to import “one kilogram or more” of heroin into the U.S. as part of an effort “to provide something of pecuniary value” for terrorist affiliates.
While the release of Corbett and McKenty is to be celebrated, Americans Mahmood Habibi and George Glezmann remain in Taliban custody. The State Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s questions about why Glezmann and Habibi were not included in the prisoner exchange.
Glezmann was arrested on Dec. 5, 2022, while traveling in Afghanistan “to explore the cultural landscape and rich history of the country.” In a Senate resolution calling for Glezmann’s immediate release in July 2024, his family expressed concern that he would “not survive his wrongful detention.” While held in solitary confinement in his 9-foot square underground cell, he has experienced “facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions.”
Habibi was arrested by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence on Aug. 10, 2022, on suspicion of being involved in the U.S. strike that killed al Qaeda senior leader Ayman al Zawahiri. Despite the FBI opening an investigation into Habibi’s whereabouts, the Taliban continue to claim that they do not hold Habibi in custody. Little is known about his condition as a result.
Though Habibi’s family “welcomed the news” that McKenty and Corbett were being released, Habibi’s brother Ahmad said in a press release that he was “frustrated with the Biden [National Security Council] because we know they have evidence my brother is alive and in Taliban hands.” Ahmad explained that his family “know[s] President Trump is about results and we have faith he will use every tool available to get Mahmood home.”
The Taliban have long lobbied to secure the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Muhammad Rahim, an al Qaeda facilitator. A 2016 detainee profile on Rahim describes a man who had “advanced knowledge of 9/11” and who had “become even more deeply committed to [al Qaeda’s] jihadist doctrine and Islamic extremism” since his detention.
On Jan. 12, then-President Joe Biden called Habibi’s family to explain that he would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.
Hugh Dugan, principal deputy special presidential envoy for hostage affairs between 2019 and 2020, told the Washington Examiner calling a future exchange between Rahim and current American detainees a “prisoner swap” would be a misnomer.
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“Right out of the shoot, we’re dealing with innocents who were taken as pawns against hardened, convicted, imprisoned terrorists and criminals,” Dugan said. “So there’s no way there’s an equivalent there.” At the same time, Dugan said such an exchange would be the “least-worst outcome.”
Given his former experience of facilitating prisoner exchanges with the Taliban, Dugan confirmed that the Taliban’s “track record on the treatment of all of [their hostages] is deplorable.”
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
