Taliban greets former captive

At first glance, the two men look almost like old friends, grinning for a camera as they sit together on a couch, drinking coffee.

But they make a very unlikely pair. One is Timothy Weeks, an Australian kidnapped at gunpoint in Kabul in 2016 who then spent more than three years as a Taliban hostage. The other is Anas Haqqani, brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, an extremist group allied with the Taliban, who was held in Afghan government custody for several years.

The two men’s fates were inextricably linked last year when they were both released as part of a prisoner swap that freed Haqqani and two other high-level commanders in exchange for Weeks and US citizen Kevin King. Weeks and King, both former lecturers at the American University of Afghanistan, were kidnapped at the same time when gunmen ambushed their SUV in central Kabul.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted a photograph – one that would have been hard to imagine even a few months ago – of Weeks and Haqqani together at the airport in Qatar on Thursday, and said Weeks was there to attend the expected signing of a deal between the Taliban and the United States.

Weeks said he requested an invitation from the Taliban to attend the gathering in Doha and was paying for all costs. Mujahid confirmed that Weeks was in Qatar at the invitation of the Taliban.

Weeks said he was there to support civilians who have suffered through decades of conflict as well as ‘‘the Taliban and all of those that are willing to look at peaceful resolution to this long-running war.’’ – Washington Post