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.

An Afghan prisoner serving a life sentence in the U.S. is freed in exchange for two Americans, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty. The exchange, facilitated by Qatar, took place in the final hours of the Biden administration.

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 two were exchanged for a man arrested in eastern Afghanistan two decades ago who has been serving a life sentence in a California prison.

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