ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has welcomed release of the US and Australian professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks in Afghanistan.
Taking to the Twitter he held: “Pak welcomes release of Profs Kevin King & Timothy Weeks in Afghanistan. We appreciate steps taken by all involved to make it possible. As part of the int community working to bring peace & end the suffering of the Afghan people, Pak has fully supported & facilitated this release.”
US and Australian professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks were freed hours after the Afghan government released three Taliban prisoners and sent them to Qatar. It is pertinent to mention here that those three who were released included Taliban’s deputy Sirajuddin Haqqani’s brother Anas Haqqani, who also leads the fearsome Haqqani network.
Sources have maintained that Taliban had refused to let the two professors go until they got the proof of the release of their men and their presence in Qatar. It may be recalled that a week ago Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had announced the conditional release of the the three, terming that as a very hard decision that he had made in the interest of Afghan masses.
Professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks the two captives held by the Taliban were abducted in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul where they both work as teachers. Taliban released two videos the following year showing the captives. Both said they were being treated well by the Taliban and appealed to their governments to help set them free.
American forces had launched a rescue mission to free the two, but they were not found at the raided location. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien made calls to Ghani regarding release of prisoners. Finally, when the three Taliban prisoners reached Qatar two professors were released this morning at 10AM in Nawbahar district of Zabul province. They were flown out of Zabul by American helicopters.
News Pakistan
