Afghan Taliban free 2 Americans

• The Taliban released two Americans in Afghanistan.
• The revelations came while the UNSC met to discuss Afghanistan.
• It wasn’t a prisoner trade.

The Taliban released two Americans in Afghanistan on Tuesday, a State Department spokesman said.

The revelations came while the UNSC met to discuss Afghanistan.

It wasn’t a prisoner trade, he said.

Price: “We’re helping these two Americans.”

Unidentified U.S. citizens were flown from Kabul to Doha, Qatar, where the Qatari government helped secure their release.

A senior administration official stated, “We’re delighted these Americans will go home soon.” We won’t confirm names out of respect for these people’s privacy.

The release coincided with the Taliban’s prohibition on women in Afghan universities.

“The irony of their providing us a goodwill gesture on the same day they do this to the Afghan people is not lost on us,” Price said.

The U.S. “condemns in harshest terms the Taliban’s inexcusable decision,” Price added.

The Taliban hasn’t kept its commitment to offer Afghan women Islamic rights.

In March, they said girls’ high schools would remain shuttered pending an Islamic law-based solution.

Teachers and students at three Kabul high schools claimed females returned excitedly but were sent home.

“When the principal told us, we all turned despairing. A student who asked to remain anonymous stated she was also crying.

Girls were excluded from middle and high school, and women were restricted from most jobs and required to wear head-to-toe garb in public.

The Taliban outlawed female education and work from 1996 until 2001.

Since withdrawing its last soldiers in 2021, the U.S. has had no diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.

Qatar protects Americans in Afghanistan.

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