US releases drug lord Haji Bashir Noorzai in prisoner swap deal with Taliban: Know all about the 'Pablo Escobar of Asia'

The United States has freed an Afghan drug lord in a prisoner swap with the Taliban that released US Navy veteran Mark Frerichs held in Afghanistan since 2020. The prisoner exchange came over a year after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital amid the withdrawal of the US troops in August 2021. 

This prisoner swap deal led to the release of Haji Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and a member of the Taliban who spent over 17 years in US captivity. 

His release his seen as a matter of concern by the security agencies of many countries, including India. It is believed that Noorzai’s release will lead to a spike in smuggling of drugs across borders. 

Noorzai is a tribal leader in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province who once owned poppy fields and laboratories for the production of heroin and oversaw a global drug operation. US officials have described him as the “Pablo Escobar of heroin trafficking in Asia”, comparing him to an infamous Colombian drug lord.

He was arrested in 2005 in the US, where his lawyers said he planned to talk with federal officials. It is not clear in what capacity he was communicating with US authorities at that time.

Noorzai was sentenced in 2009 to life imprisonment after being convicted in federal court in Manhattan, with Justice Department prosecutors accusing him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors in New York who sold the heroin.

At the time of his sentencing, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzai's worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism.

Noorzai was accused of having close ties with the Taliban’s late co-founder Mullah Omar. According to the United States, he financially supported the Taliban in exchange for allowing his drug business to flourish.