Wagga academic Timothy Weeks, who spent three years as a Taliban hostage, has returned to Afghanistan and praised the country's new government that was formed by his former captors.
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In a 46-second video released early on Saturday morning by Afghan news channel TOLOnews, Mr Weeks spoke on the tarmac at Kabul Airport.
Mr Weeks, who is also known as Jibrael Umar after he converted to Islam after his release from the Taliban, said he was in the country to celebrate the Taliban government's first anniversary.
"I first came here to Afghanistan six years ago in 2016 I came here with a dream to learn about Afghanistan. and now I am coming again to complete my journey," he said.
"This is the part two of my journey."
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Mr Weeks said he "stood behind" the Taliban after spending three years with its soldiers.
"I saw these people in a light that nobody else has been able to do," he said.
Mr Weeks and his American colleague Kevin King were abducted by the Taliban in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul where they worked as teachers.
In 2017 Mr Weeks and Mr King featured in two Taliban-issued videos and both men were released in 2019 as part of a exchange for three Taliban prisoners.
The Taliban rapidly regained control of Afghanistan between May and August 2021 after US President Joe Biden removed military forces as part of a deal to end an intentional Coalition's 20-year presence in the nation.
More than 124,000 Aghans fled the nation in August and September last year, fearing reprisals from the Taliban or the reintroduction of strict Sharia law.
The Taliban have since have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education and stopped many women from working.
Mr Weeks said in December 2019 that his time as a Taliban hostage had a "profound and unimaginable effect" on him.
"At times I felt as if my death was imminent and that I would never return to see those that I loved again.," he previously said.
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