ISTANBUL 

An Australian academic, who was freed from the Taliban before the group’s return to power, died of cancer Wednesday in Afghanistan, according to officials.

Timothy Weeks had reverted to Islam and was known as Jibra’il Omar.

Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman of the interim interior ministry, said Omar, 54, had been “suffering from the cancer for a long time.”

Omar “was captured by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) in the past years, then he was released from prison during the exchange of prisoners,” said Qani, referring to the pre-2021 era when the group was fighting US-led foreign forces.

American Kevin King and Weeks, who taught at the American University of Afghanistan, were held by the Taliban in August 2016.

They were released in a prisoner exchange in November 2019 for the Taliban trio Anas Haqqani, Hafiz Rashid Omari and Haji Milli Khan, who were freed from the Bagram prison in Parwan province.

Haqqani was flown to the Qatari capital of Doha which hosted the Taliban’s political office.

A year later, the US signed a deal with the Taliban in Doha, which paved their return to power for the second time since 1996.

The Taliban took control of state institutions in August 2021 and have since ruled the war-torn nation.

Omar accepted Islam due to “his self-satisfaction,” according to Qani.

He worked as an English teacher in Kabul, said Qani. “He was very fond of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate, and based on that and he considered it best to live in Kabul,” he said.

Omar traveled to different provinces during his stay in Afghanistan.

Haqqanil, the now-31-year-old Taliban leader, noted the days of the prisoner exchange.

“Fate brought us together at a crossroads where my death became his, my life intertwined with his, and his freedom became mine; together, we crossed through those red lights,” he said after news of Omar’s death.

“After the exchange, he (Jibra’il Omar) came to Qatar, and we spoke like long-lost friends,” he wrote X.

Omar “left the land where he was born (Australia)… He stayed with us, dressed in Afghan attire, and walked the streets of this land, for the bond of faith and belief holds deeper meaning than any other connection,” he added.