This archive report was first published on 13 November 2019.
Published on November 13, 2019, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's announcement of a prisoner exchange has left the fate of two Western hostages unclear.
The hostages, American professor Kevin King and Australian professor Timothy Weeks, were kidnapped in Kabul in August 2016 and have been held by the Taliban since then.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that the hostages would be released when they reached their destination, but he did not specify where that would be.
Afghan authorities declined to comment further on the matter, while the US embassy in Kabul said it had no further information after its ambassador had welcomed the news a day earlier.
Australia's foreign ministry also declined to comment, saying it did not want to give a 'running commentary' on the process.
The prisoner exchange was announced by Ghani on Tuesday, who said that three Taliban prisoners, including Anas Haqqani, brother of the leader of one of the Taliban's most feared factions, would be freed.
However, Ghani did not say when or where the swap would take place, and Mujahid said he 'cannot confirm' if the Taliban prisoners had already been released.
The hostages were last known to have been detained by Afghan authorities in Bagram prison, north of Kabul, and Ghani had hinted that they could be released outside the country.
