[Twitter/NewsWoke]
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President Joe Biden's administration is prepared to pardon an influential Afghan tribal leader, who has been sitting in a U.S. federal prison for 16 years, in exchange for the last American hostage abducted last year in Afghanistan.
But Washington is insisting that the Taliban first provide proof of life for the U.S. hostage, a U.S. government official told Newsweek.
Bashir Noorzai, a top figure in the Pashtun tribe that shares his surname, the same tribe to which elusive Taliban Supreme Commander Hibatullah Akhundzada belongs, was arrested in New York City on drug trafficking charges in April 2005 during a trip in which he sought to advance diplomacy as the U.S.-led war in his home country grew even more violent. Today, he's serving a life sentence at a federal prison in New Hampshire.
Mark Frerichs is a U.S. contractor who was abducted in late January 2020 by elements believed to be tied to the Haqqani network, a Taliban-aligned militia operating across the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Newsweek was the first to report on his kidnapping days later, and has made contact with his family and former U.S. officials regarding his case, as well as the prospect of an exchange of Noorzai for Frerichs.
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