KABUL, Afghanistan — Timothy Weeks, a former lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan and an Australian academic who was once held captive by the Taliban and had been living in Kabul since their return to power, has died of cancer, according to a Taliban statement on Wednesday.
Weeks and Kevin King, an American citizen, were kidnapped by the Taliban in August 2016 while working at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. They were held for more than three years before being released in a prisoner exchange in 2019 as part of peace negotiations under the Trump administration.
The exchange involved the release of Weeks and King in return for three senior Taliban members, including Anas Haqqani, the brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is currently the Taliban’s interior minister and has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.
After his release, Weeks embraced Islam and dedicated himself to studying the religion. The Taliban Interior Ministry stated that Weeks, who worked as an English teacher in Kabul, traveled across Afghanistan to deepen his understanding of Islam.
“Jabril Omar was very fond of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate,” the Taliban interior ministry’s statement said. “Based on that, he chose to live in Kabul, where he increased his knowledge of Islam and its principles.”
