PESHAWAR: Afghan Taliban on Monday issued a statement saying that the health condition of American Professor Kevin King and his Australian colleague Timothy Weeks, was worsening with each passing day.
Both Kevin King, 60, and Timothy Weeks, 48, were abducted at gunpoint in August 2016 from outside the University of Afghanistan in Kabul, where both the persons were employed as teachers. In June 2017, King in a video message, said that, “My captors treat me well. They treat me and my colleague, Tim Weeks, as their guests; but, every prisoner’s final wish is to get freedom from imprisonment.” King was seen sporting a long beard in the video message.
According to a Taliban spokesman, “The condition of Kevin King has exponentially worsened as his feet have started swelling and he frequently losses consciousness. His health is deteriorating rapidly.”
The statement issued to the media also said, “We have periodically tried to treat the prisoners and provide them with medical care. Since we are in a state of war, access to good health facilities is absent, therefore, we are not able to deliver complete treatment for the suffering prisoners.”
In June this year, the Afghan Taliban had released a second video message of both Professor Kevin King and Professor Timothy Weeks, requesting US authorities to release fellow militants, imprisoned in Bagram and Pull-I-Charkhi prisons in Kabul. However, Taliban militants did not share any names and identities of the prisoners that they wanted to set free through the exchange programme.
The video message also urged the United States (US) President Donald Trump to negotiate the freedom of the above-mentioned hostages in exchange for militants held inside Kabul prisons by security forces.
Before this, in January 2017, the Taliban militants had released their first video confirming the kidnapping of the two teachers belonging to the US and Australia, and demanded release of militants in exchange for the two academics.
In his latest press statement, the Taliban spokesman said that, “Since the American side does not care about the well-being of its nationals, hence, we are warning them to accept the demands of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, presented in regard to buying the freedom of the two captives and secure their release.”
The spokesman further said, “However, if they insist on delaying this matter and the illness of Kevin King becomes incurable or he loses his life, the Islamic Emirate will not be responsible since the Americans do not want to bring an end to the issue and do not consider the life of its nationals important.”
In a similar statement to King, Australian Professor Timothy Weeks had also requested his government to ensure his release by holding negotiations with the Taliban. Weeks had urged Australian politicians to raise the issue in the Parliament, saying that the only way for him to go home was for the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to speak to the Taliban and President Trump in order to reach an agreement with their captors.
In the video message, Weeks had said that, “I pray that this happens shortly and that the Taliban prisoners may be allowed to return home to their families for Eid (the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan), and that I may be able to go home to my family and friends. Help, please. Thank you.”
New York University Centre on International Cooperation Associate Director Barnett Rubin, who also authored several books on Afghanistan, said in connection with second video that, “The video appears to show that the two men are in reasonable physical health, but under tremendous emotional strain, as is natural.”
According to previous reports, the hostages were believed to be in the custody of the notorious Haqqani network, a staunch ally of the Afghan Taliban. It was not clear though whether Anas Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network Jalaluddin Haqqani, was among the group of prisoners that the Taliban wanted to free from captivity.
Earlier, in the second week of October, Pakistan security forces had recovered US citizen Caitlan Coleman, 31, her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, 33, along with their three children born in captivity.
It was later revealed that the hostages were being held by militants belonging to the Haqqani network as the couple was abducted in 2012 from Maidan-Wardak province south of Kabul city.
