Australian and US hostages freed in Taliban prisoner swap

Australian Timothy Weeks and American Kevin King have been released by the Taliban as part of a stalled hostage swap deal.

Timothy Weekes appeared pale and drawn in a video released in January, 2017. Source: AAP

The Taliban released two Western hostages in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, handing them over to US forces more than three years after they were abducted in Kabul.

The release of Australian Timothy Weeks and American Kevin King, both professors at the American University in Kabul, comes one week after President Ashraf Ghani announced that Afghanistan would free three high-ranking Taliban prisoners in an apparent swap that he hoped would help jumpstart peace talks.