The swap includes Anas Haqqani, a leading figure and fund-raiser in the Haqqani militant group, and two other senior commanders, who had been held in prison by Afghan authorities. Anas Haqqani's older brother, Sirajuddin, leads the Haqqani network of fighters and is a deputy leader of the Taliban, which has a political office in Qatar....
The Haqqani network has been behind many of the co-ordinated attacks on Afghan and Nato forces in recent years and has been blamed for some of the deadliest blasts in the country, including a truck bomb in Kabul in 2017 that killed more than 150 people....
It is hoped the exchange will boost efforts to re-start peace talks between the Taliban and the US....
November 19, 2019
"The Afghan Taliban have freed two Western hostages in exchange for three imprisoned senior militants, officials and Taliban sources say."
BBC reports on the release of Kevin King and Timothy Weeks who were professors at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.
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15 comments:
Quid pro quo! Impeach!
The Haqqanis are the very epitome of bad hombres as Trump called them.
They are the worst of the worst. Should never have freed these terrorists and capitulated to their demands. We can expect more hostages now. Stupid deal.
I wouldn't trade two donkeys for two American professors. Bad deal.
Is the hope that all their future victims will be Afghan?
1. Prisoner exchanges should not happen until after the negotiations have successfully concluded. This is really stupid.
2. At least two of the Afghans released are actual terrorists. Why are they still breathing? You don't capture terrorists, you kill them. Otherwise you're just inviting their compatriots to take hostages for an exchange.
All of this is obvious, and it proves that we are throwing away the lives of good men and women in Afghanistan for nothing, as we are not seriously trying to win. Vietnam redux.
They are the worst of the worst. Should never have freed these terrorists and capitulated to their demands. We can expect more hostages now. Stupid deal.
This is prep for getting out. Should have left ten years ago.
Hopefully Kevin King is a more trade-worthy individual than Bowe Bergdahl.
It is hoped the exchange will boost efforts
By whom?
The use of the passive voice in Brit news bugs the bejeesus out of me.
Makes it easier to drop the JDAMS on their heads...
Per the next Althouse post, maybe they implanted surveillance/homing devices in their bodies before releasing them?
Yes this was the clan we gave so much money in the 80s
Doesn't sound like a fair trade to me. The Taliban could at least have thrown in a few kilos of opium.
Pikers.
Everybody knows the going rate is five, hardened terrorists for one deserter.
I hope the three of them were infected with bubonic plague before releasing them back to the Taliban.
They can go back to the battlefield now.
And we can disintegrate them.
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