WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped broker, the State Department said Thursday.

George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained the following year.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Glezmann was on his way back to the United States to be reunited with his wife, Aleksandra, and praised Qatar for “steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts” that he said were “instrumental in securing George’s release.”

“George’s release is a positive and constructive step,” Rubio said. “It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.”

Glezmann was being accompanied back to the U.S., through Qatar’s capital, Doha, by Adam Boehler, who has been handling hostage issues for President Donald Trump’s administration. The Taliban disclosed earlier Thursday that Boehler had met with a delegation that included Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Glezmann, 66, was in Afghanistan as a tourist at the time of his abduction and has visited more than 100 countries as part of his passion for exploring different cultures, according to a profile on the website of the Foley Foundation, an organization that advocates for the release of Americans detained by foreign countries.

The release of Glezmann is part of what the Taliban has previously described as the “normalization” of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Most countries still don’t recognize the Taliban’s rule.

Glezmann’s release follows a separate deal, arranged in January in the final days of the Biden administration and also mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul said at the time that those two U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 after being convicted under U.S. narco-terrorism laws for securing heroin and opium that he knew was bound for the U.S.

Unlike in that arrangement, the U.S. did not give up any prisoner to secure Glezmann’s release, which was done as a goodwill gesture, according to an official briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Glezmann’s release on “humanitarian grounds.” In a statement, it said the “Islamic Emirate again reaffirms its longstanding position that dialogue, understanding and diplomacy provide effective avenues for resolving all issues.”

President Joe Biden contemplated before he left office an earlier proposal that would have involved the release of Glezmann and other Americans for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But Biden told families during a call in January that he would not support trading Rahim unless the Taliban released Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and vanished in 2022.

The FBI and Habibi’s family have said they believe Habibi was taken by Taliban forces, but the Taliban has denied holding him. Representatives for Habibi on Thursday cited what they said was “overwhelming evidence” that he was arrested by the Taliban after his home was searched by people identifying themselves as part of the Taliban’s security service.

“We are confident that the Trump Administration will hold firm that my brother needs to be released for relations with the U.S. to move forward,” one of Habibi’s brothers, Ahmad, said in a statement. “We have reason to be confident Mahmood is alive and in Taliban custody, despite their hollow denials of holding him. My brother is an innocent man who has been held away from his wife, young daughter, and elderly parents for 953 days.”

Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday.

The deal came as Joe Biden, who oversaw the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, handed power over to returning President Donald Trump. The Taliban praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan, but that likely remains a tall order as most countries in the world still don’t recognize their rule.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul confirmed the swap, saying two unidentified U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008.

The family of Ryan Corbett, one American held by the Taliban, confirmed he had been released in a statement. Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government, was detained by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.

“Our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives,” the family’s statement said. They thanked both Trump and Biden, as well as many government officials, for their efforts in freeing him.

Corbett’s family also praised the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar “for their vital role in facilitating Ryan’s release, and for their visits to Ryan as the United States’ Protecting Power in Afghanistan.” Energy-rich Qatar, which hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban over the years, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both CNN and The New York Times, relying on anonymous U.S. officials, identified the second American released as William McKenty, though no other details have emerged about his identity or what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Mohammed, 55, was a prisoner in California after his 2008 conviction. The Bureau of Prisons early Tuesday listed Mohammed as not being in their custody.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said Mohammed had arrived in Afghanistan and was with his family. There were no immediate plans to celebrate or mark his freedom, Takal added.

Mohammed was detained on the battlefield in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and later taken to the U.S. A federal jury convicted him on charges of securing heroin and opium that he knew were bound for the United States and, in doing so, assisting terrorism activity.

The Justice Department at the time referred to Mohammed as “a violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker” who “sought to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan using rockets.” He was the first person to be convicted on U.S. narco-terrorism laws.

Before Biden left office, his administration had been trying to work out a deal to free Corbett as well as George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 while traveling through the country. Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company, also went missing in 2022. The Taliban have denied they have Habibi.

Officials in Washington did not respond to requests for comment early Tuesday after Trump’s inauguration the day before.

The Taliban called the exchange the result of “long and fruitful negotiations” with the U.S. and said it was a good example of solving problems through dialogue.

“The Islamic Emirate looks positively at the actions of the United States of America that help the normalization and development of relations between the two countries,” it said.

The Taliban have been trying to make inroads in being recognized, in part to escape the economic tailspin caused by its takeover. Billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a Taliban government official said Wednesday, raising fears of further straining the relations between the two neighbors.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government, said those killed in the strikes that targeted four locations in Barmal, a district in the province of Paktika, were refugees, adding that six others were also wounded.

This comes a day after Pakistani security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that Tuesday’s operation was to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in Paktika in Afghanistan.

Earlier Wednesday, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed in a statement that 50 people, including 27 women and children, have died in the strikes. He said they were “unarmed refugees” who fled to Afghanistan because of Pakistan’s offensive in the northwest.

The TTP — a separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban — also shared photos, alleging they were of children killed during the Pakistani operation.

Meanwhile, residents in the area told an AP reporter over the phone that at least 13 people were left dead, adding that the death toll could be higher. They also said the wounded were transported to a local hospital.

Pakistan has not commented on the strikes. However, on Wednesday, the Pakistani military said security forces killed 13 insurgents in an intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan, a district located along eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday praised “Pakistan’s brave security force” in a statement for thwarting “the nefarious designs” of “terrorists.” He didn’t mention the Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan

The Taliban Defense Ministry denounced the attacks on Tuesday and promised retaliation.

On Wednesday, the situation along the shared border seemed to be business as usual. However, security analysts say the TTP could launch retaliatory attacks in Pakistan.

Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in the past two decades but there has been an uptick in recent months. The latest was this weekend when at least 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed when the TTP attacked a checkpoint in the country’s northwest.

Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of not doing enough to combat militant activity across the border, a charge the Afghan Taliban government denies, saying it does not allow anyone to carry out attacks against any country.

North and South Waziristan are former strongholds of Pakistani Taliban, who have fled to Afghanistan.

Tensions were at an all-high in March when Pakistan said intelligence-based strikes took place in the border regions inside Afghanistan.

Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.