US release senior Taliban figure after decades in detention

Bashir Noorzai was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50m worth of heroin into the United States

KABUL:

A senior Taliban figure, Haji Bashir Noorzai, has been released after decades of detention by the United States and arrived in Kabul on Monday, a Taliban spokesperson said.

Afghan state media reports said he had been among the last Afghans held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

الحاج بشر نورزی: الحمد لله تم اطلاق سراحي بفضل من الله' ثم بجهود الإمارة الإسلامية'
أرجو أن يفتح اطلاق سراحي بابا جدیدا في العلاقات بين الإمارة الإسالإسلامية والولايات المتحدة الأمريکية. pic.twitter.com/YrzxDVL2zj

— Dr.M.Naeem (@IeaOffice) September 19, 2022

"Honorable Haji Bashir was released after two decades of imprisonment and arrived in Kabul today," said Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesperson based in Doha, in a Tweet.

Noorzai was released in exchange fo US citizen Mark Frerich, who had been abducted by the Taliban before the fall of Afghanistan. 

Read: Afghan insurgent leader calls for new anti-Taliban 'political' front

Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader, was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States.

Noorzai’s lawyer later denied his client was a drug dealer and argued the charges should be dismissed because US government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested.