Former Taliban Official Calls Three Americans Detained by Taliban "Spies"

Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, has labelled the three American citizens currently held by the Taliban as "spies."

Zaeef, who was once imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, criticised the United States, accusing it of detaining "innocent people in its brutal prisons without trial for decades."

In response to recent comments made by Thomas West, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, Zaeef posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, stating, "Those who are concerned about their three imprisoned spies should know that they are not humanitarians but rather the greatest criminals in the history of mankind."

Previously, West had stressed the importance of securing the release of the three Americans detained by the Taliban, asserting that they had been "unjustly" imprisoned and that the U.S. is actively working towards their release.

Zaeef served as the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan during the latter years of the group’s first regime until its collapse. Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Zaeef was captured and transferred to Guantanamo Bay. He was released in the autumn of 2005 and subsequently returned to Afghanistan, where he settled in Kabul. A prominent Taliban figure, Zaeef documented his experiences in Guantanamo in a memoir titled My Life with the Taliban.

Reports indicate that the Taliban arrested three American citizens—Ryan Corbett, George Glazman, and Afghan-American Mahmood Habibi—in separate incidents in 2022.

On 4 July, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, announced that discussions regarding a potential prisoner exchange had occurred during a meeting with U.S. representatives in Doha. Mujahid stated that the Taliban would release the American citizens in exchange for the release of their fighters from Guantanamo Bay. He further emphasised that the U.S. must comply with the Taliban's conditions to secure the release of its citizens.