WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is negotiating with Afghanistan to exchange Americans detained in the country for at least one high-profile prisoner held in Guantanamo Bay with alleged ties to former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking the return of three Americans seized in 2022 — Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi — in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, the WSJ reported.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the agency that the Biden administration has been negotiating with the Taliban since at least July on a US proposal to exchange Corbett, Glezmann and Habibi for Rahim.

Following a major push to close the facility in its final days in office, the Biden administration also slashed the prisoner population at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba by nearly half on Monday, sending 11 detainees to Oman. The US military said only 15 detainees remained there after the transfer.

The Taliban, who deny holding Habibi, countered with an offer to exchange Glezmann and Corbett for Rahim and two others, said the source.

Corbett and Habibi were detained in separate incidents in August 2022 a year after the Taliban seized Kabul amid the chaotic US troop withdrawal. Glezmann was detained later in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.

Washington shrinks Guantanamo prison’s population to 15 men

A spokesperson for the National Security Council said they could not confirm the WSJ story, but added that the administration was “working around the clock” to secure the release of the three Americans.

Rahim’s lawyer, James Connell, said that neither the Biden administration nor the Taliban had informed him or Rahim of the negotiations.

Closing detention centre

The detention centre was first opened on Jan 11, 2002 by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and “illegal enemy combatants” during the US “War on Terror” following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Guantanamo Bay housed roughly 680 prisoners at the detention centre’s peak in 2003, according to Pentagon data.

The latest transfer of the 11 men, all of whom are from Yemen, leaves the US naval base in Cuba with fewer detainees than when it opened with the arrival of prisoners from Afghanistan.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the US military said in a statement.

The Pentagon named the 11 men transferred as: Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah, Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash, Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah.

Of the remaining 15 detainees, the Pentagon said three are eligible for transfer and an equal number are eligible for a periodic review board to examine their cases. The remainder have been charged or convicted of war crimes.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025