Two Americans who had been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released and are en route to Qatar, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Two of the sources said that one of the Americans is filmmaker Ivor Shearer, who was arrested along with his Afghan producer, Faizullah Faizbakhsh, in August this year while filming in Kabul, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

He was filming where a US drone had killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.The name of the second American is being with held at the request of the family at this time. The status of Faizbakhsh was not immediately clear.

It was not immediately clear what spurred the release of the two Americans and if any deal was made with the Taliban to secure it. The State Department did not immediately respond for a request for comment.“The United States welcomes the release of two US nationals from detention in Afghanistan.

We continue to provide all appropriate assistance. We are glad these US nationals will reunite with their families soon,” a senior administration official said. “Out of respect for the privacy of these individuals and their families, we are not going to confirm names.”The official added that the administration continues to “engage the Taliban in pragmatic ways to advance US interests” but did not provide details as to the efforts it took to secure the America’s release.According to the CPJ, security guards questioned Shearer and Faizbakhsh about their activities “and checked their work permits, ID cards, and passports.”

They also “confiscated the journalists’ cellphones, detained them for a couple of hours, and repeatedly called them ‘American spies.’”Shearer was in Afghanistan on a one-month visa, according to CPJ, but received a one-year work permit by the Taliban’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs that allowed him to stay in the country until September.

He was reportedly summoned and questioned about his past work multiple times by the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before his arrest.

Last edited by Spunky (12/20/2022 3:55 pm)