The United States has freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and terrorism in exchange for two US citizens held in Afghanistan, authorities in Kabul said on Tuesday (Jan 21).

Afghanistan's 'de facto' authorities announced on Tuesday an agreement with the United States to release two American citizens in exchange for a Taliban leader who had been serving a two-decade sentence in the United States.

ISLAMABAD -- 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.