Sources close to the Taliban say three high-ranking commanders who have been held in Afghanistan are in Qatar awaiting release in exchange for two long-time Western captives of the insurgent group.
The sources said the commanders were flown to Doha on Monday awaiting the swap with American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, two professors at the American University in Kabul. King and Weeks were kidnapped in August 2016 outside American University’s campus.
The Taliban trio includes Anas Haqqani, whose older brother is the leader of the notorious Taliban-affiliated terror network that bears their name. Anas Haqqani, along with Taliban commanders Haji Mali Khan and Hafiz Rashid, have been detained by the Afghan government since 2014.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced the prisoner swap last week, in order to facilitate direct peace talks with Afghanistan’s former hardline rulers. The Taliban has waged a deadly insurgent campaign since the Taliban was overthrown by U.S.-led forces for harboring al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The Taliban sources say the prisoners will be exchanged sometime Tuesday.