Taliban Aussie captive to be freed

DFAT has paid tribute to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for efforts in freeing Australian Timothy Weeks from the Taliban.

An image from a video released by the Taliban in January 2017 shows Australian Timothy Weeks making a statement on camera while in captivity. Picture: AP

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has sent its appreciation to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for efforts that could see an Australian man — Timothy Weeks — released after being held by the Taliban for more than three years.

A prisoner exchange agreement between the Taliban and Afghan government would release Mr Weeks as well as American man Kevin King, in return for the release of three senior Taliban members.

Mr Weeks and Mr King worked as professors at the American University of Afghanistan and were abducted by gunmen in August 2016 while travelling by car.

“We sincerely appreciate President Ghani’s concern for Tim Weeks and Kevin King, and hope the Taliban immediately releases the hostages,” a DFAT spokesman said. “The Australian government has never stopped pressing for their release, but we will not give a running commentary on the current process.

“The Afghan government is leading the discussions with the Taliban for Mr Weeks’s and Mr King’s release as part of its broader peace negotiations.”

President Ghani explained the prisoner exchange was aimed at facilitating “direct peace negotiations” and was a “tough but important decision”.

He did not say where Mr Weeks or Mr King were located, but noted that their health had suffered while being held by the Taliban.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese weighed in to the debate, saying he hoped Mr Weeks was released.

“That would be a good thing for him and for his family and friends,” Mr Albanese said.

“Three years is a terrible time to be held captive, but I’ll await a full briefing before I make further comment.”

The New York Times reported that one of the senior Taliban figures to be released would be Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of the Taliban’s military operations leader.

In addition, a senior Taliban commander, Hafiz Rashid, is also due to be released after equipping suicide bombers, picking their targets and moving them into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

The third Taliban figure to be released was a senior commander, Haji Mali Khan.