Afghan President: 3 Taliban Conditionally Released for Imprisoned American and Australian

Afghan President: 3 Taliban Conditionally Released for Imprisoned American and Australian
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks in Kandahar on Feb. 3, 2016. Jawed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Nov. 12, announced that his government had released three prominent Taliban figures in an effort to get the insurgents to free two university professors—an American and an Australian—they abducted three years ago.

At a press event broadcast live on state television, Ghani told the nation that the “conditional release” was a very hard decision he felt he had to make in the interest of the Afghan people.