Relief as prisoner freed by Taliban

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison says Australian academic Tim Weeks is in good spirits after being released by the Taliban in a prisoner swap.

Mr Weeks and his American colleague Kevin King were freed overnight on Tuesday, three years after they were abducted in Afghanistan.

The men were flown out of the country by US officials and were yesterday undergoing medical checks.

“Tim is in a safe place, he’s out, and he’s coming home,” Mr Morrison said yesterday.

“We look forward to that very, very much.”

The Prime Minister thanked the Afghan government and the United States for helping end “three years of absolute hell” for the two men.

“The fact that Tim and Mr King will be actually coming home to their respective countries is a great relief,” he said.

“It just goes to show that if you stick at these things and you work at it quietly, you don’t seek to showboat around this stuff, that you can get good outcomes for people.

“It’s not always guaranteed, there are tremendous risks, and what has been able to be achieved here for Professor Weeks is just tremendous and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Foreign Minister Marise Payne spoke to Mr Weeks’ family. “They are needless to say extraordinarily relieved, extraordinarily pleased that they will be able to welcome home Timothy and very, very grateful to those who have worked so hard to achieve his release,” she told reporters.

Mr Weeks is from Wagga Wagga in NSW, which is also home to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.

“I know all Wagga Wagga is celebrating today the freedom and the safety of Timothy Weeks,” Mr McCormack said. “Well done to everybody who helped make that happen.”

Mr Weeks, 50, and Mr King, 63, who were grabbed outside the American University in

WHAT HAS BEEN ABLE TO BE ACHIEVED HERE FOR PROFESSOR WEEKS IS JUST TREMENDOUS, I COULDN’T BE MORE THRILLED PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON

Kabul in 2016, were freed in exchange for three members of the Taliban – Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Taliban’s fearsome Haqqani network, an uncle, Hajji Malik Khan, and a Haqqani lieutenant, Hafiz Rashid Khan.

“We are grateful for the efforts of the Australian government in securing Tim’s release,” the Weeks family said.

“We would like to thank the United States government for the significant role it played ... and acknowledge the important contribution of the government of Afghanistan.”