In the very last hours of President Joe Biden’s time in office, a prisoner exchange years in the making was finally struck: the Taliban agreed to swap two Americans being held in Afghanistan for one Taliban member serving a life sentence in a US prison.

Despite the Taliban’s attempts to erase the nation’s cultural identity, Afghan artists are hopeful that art can outlive even the most oppressive regimes.

All the family has of their son, Sayed Anas Hashemi, now 2, is photos, which they look at in a cell phone. The family has been living without their youngest member, Sayed Anas Hashemi, who was one month old when the family fled Afghanistan. January 17, 2025 Beth Nakamura

A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges

A terrorist identified as an Afghan national was killed in Sambaza, Zhob district of Balochistan on 11 January 2025, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported on Tuesday. The individual, Muhammad Khan Ahmedkhel, son of Haji Qasim Dawran Khan, was a resident of Bilorai village in Wazekhwa district, Paktika province, Afghanistan.

The interim Afghan government conceded to the Pakistani authorities in closed door meetings that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was a problem but objected to Islamabad's approach in dealing the issue,

The Taliban won’t return any of the military equipment left behind by the US troops while exiting Afghanistan in 2021, a person familiar with the matter said.

The family of Ryan Corbett, a U.S. citizen who was kidnapped by the terrorist government in August 2022, confirmed he was one of the exchanged prisoners.

The deal was struck for Khan Mohammad, a member of the Taliban serving two life sentences in a U.S. prison on 'narco-terrorism charges.'

The Taliban's Foreign Ministry in Kabul did not name the two U.S. citizens, but said they were exchanged for Khan Muhammad, who was arrested in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar two decades ago and has been serving a life sentence in a California prison.

The frequency of TTP attacks in Pakistan has increased—from 267 in 2021 to 365 in 2022—and the militant group has also been systematically going after hard targets.