Freed Taliban prisoner recounts SEAL rescue attempts

An Australian teacher held captive with an American colleague by the Taliban for more than three years believes US Navy SEALs tried and failed six times to free them.

Timothy Weeks was released last month in a prisoner swap along with Kevin King, ending an ordeal that began with their abduction in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul, where they worked.

Weeks, 50, told a news conference on Sunday he believed SEAL teams tried repeatedly to rescue them, sometimes missing them only by "hours" after the two hostages were moved to other locations by their captors.

"I believe, and I hope this is correct, that they came in six times to try to get us, and that a number of times they missed us only by hours," Weeks said.

One attempt came in April this year. Weeks said he was woken at 2 am by his guards, who told him they were under attack from Islamic State fighters, and moved him into a tunnel beneath where they were being held.

"I believe now that it was the Navy SEALs coming in to get us," Weeks said.

"I believe they were right outside our door. The moment that we got into the tunnels, we were 1 or 2 metres underground and there was a huge bang at the front door. And our guards went up and there was a lot of machine-gun fire. They pushed me over the top into the tunnels and I fell backwards and rolled and knocked myself unconscious."
"I knew that I would leave that place eventually. It just took a little longer than I expected."
"I don't hate them at all," he said. "And some of them, I have great respect for, and great love for, almost. Some of them were so compassionate and such lovely, lovely people. And it really led me to think about ... how did they end up like this?"
He added: "I know a lot of people don't admit this, but for me, they were soldiers. And soldiers obey the commands of their commanders. (They) don't get a choice."
"Out of a big dust cloud came six special forces and they walked towards us and one of them stepped towards me and he just put his arm around me and he held me and he said, 'Are you OK?' And then he walked me back to the Black Hawk."