Taliban Release 2 Detained US Citizens in ‘Goodwill’ Move| State Department

The Taliban released two American hostages this week in a show of "goodwill," the State Department reported on Tuesday, and they are now on their way home.

The Americans were sent to Doha, Qatar, by the Taliban on Tuesday so that they could be taken into US custody. Department spokesman Ned Price informed reporters that their release was not a component of any bigger agreement with the US.

“This was not part of any swap of prisoners or detainees,” Price said. “There was no money that exchanged hands.”

Filmmaker Ivor Shearer is one of the two Americans who have been freed, according to a report by CNN on Tuesday that cited two unidentified sources. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Shearer was detained by the Taliban in August while he was documenting a location in Kabul where the al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a US drone attack some four months prior.