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.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has announced the release of two Americans in a prisoner exchange. In a statement Tuesday, the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul did not name the two U.S. citizens,

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, officials said Tuesday.

Americans Ryan Corbett and William W. McKenty III were freed, their families said. The Taliban said Khan Mohammed, an Afghan serving a life sentence in California, was released.

The Taliban described the agreement as a constructive demonstration of resolving disputes through dialogue. The swap comes amid ongoing tensions between the two parties, with Kabul-based sources revealing that the Taliban still holds at least five US citizens.

The United States has freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and terrorism in exchange for two U.S. citizens held in Afghanistan, authorities in Kabul said on Tuesday.

Ryan Corbett, an American detained in Afghanistan, was released amid the U.S. presidential transition, according to his family.