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.

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.

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.

Refugees bound for the U.S. are stuck in transit after the State Department suspended its refugee program late yesterday due to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office.

An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to suspend refugee admissions has magnified the fears of one Afghan American soldier who has long been worried about the fate of his sister in Kabul.