In what is being called a “goodwill gesture,” two Americans being held in Afghanistan were released by the Taliban, according to the State Department.
U.S. officials have not shared who the two Americans being released are, but State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday that they will receive “appropriate assistance.”
“We are in a position to welcome the release of two Americans, two U.S. nationals, from detention in Afghanistan,” Price said.
The detained Americans were reportedly flown from Afghanistan to Qatar on Tuesday, where members of their families were reunited with them.
The New York Times, citing someone with knowledge of the release, identified one of the Americans as U.S. citizen and journalist Ivor Shearer, who was arrested and has been detained in the country since August. Shearer was taken into custody while filming a site of the U.S. bombing that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
The Biden administration has not confirmed that Shearer was one of the prisoners released, but Price did talk about the intentions behind the Taliban’s move.
“We understand this, or at least the Taliban characterize this to us, as a goodwill gesture,” Price said.
However, the release also comes after the Taliban announced Tuesday that women would no longer be allowed to attend private or public universities in Afghanistan, something Price called ironic.
“The irony of them granting us a goodwill gesture on a day where they undertake a gesture like this to the Afghan people, it’s not lost on us,” Price said.
The release also comes just two weeks after American basketball star Brittney Griner was released from Russia after nearly 10 months of being detained for possession of an illegal substance — cannabis oil she had in her luggage.
Griner’s release was announced by President Biden after months of calling for her return. The release was part of a prisoner swap that sent convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia.
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