US offers $5m reward for two men kidnapped in Afghanistan

Paul Overby, 77, disappeared in 2014 in Khost near the Pakistan border as he was researching a book on the Afghan people.

His wife said in 2017 that he disappeared as he was trying to arrange to interview the head of the Haqqani network, an arm of the Taliban.

The second man, Paul Frerichs, 58, was kidnapped in February 2020 after spending a decade in the country working on construction projects.

President Donald Trump, up for re-election in November, has said repeatedly that he wants to end America's longest war, which began nearly 20 years ago when Washington ousted the Taliban following the September 11 attacks.

Read also: Renowned Afghan actress and film director shot in Kabul

The intra-Afghan talks were slated under a US-Taliban deal agreed in February, in which Washington said it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by mid-2021 in return for security guarantees.

Earlier this month, Defence Secretary Mark Esper told Fox News that the US would reduce the number of American troops in the country to less than 5,000 by the end of November, but added that it was "conditions-based".

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