Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Tuesday that three high-ranking Taliban prisoners would be released, in an apparent exchange for two Western hostages who were kidnapped by the insurgents in 2016.
The three Taliban prisoners include Anas Haqqani, who was seized in 2014 and whose older brother is the deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani network, a notorious Taliban affiliate.
"We have decided to conditionally release three Taliban prisoners who... Have been in Bagram prison in the custody of the Afghan government for some time," Ghani said in an announcement at the presidential palace.