Timothy Weeks, an Australian professor who was held hostage by the Taliban for more than three years, has accepted an invitation from his captors to attend the expected signing of a US-Taliban deal.
Mr Weeks and an American colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint while working in Afghanistan in 2016 and .
The Australian has flown to Doha, Qatar to witness US-Taliban deal ceremonies this Saturday which could pave the way for American troops to leave Afghanistan.
He was welcomed by Anas Haqqani, the brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, who was freed from Afgan government custody as part of last year's prisoner swap.
"I cannot believe that I am here in Qatar and have met and spoken with Anas. I am blessed to be an official guest at the signing ceremony," he tweeted.
"I pray that that day, the future of those who have suffered for so long will finally change for the better. May God bless Afghanistan."
In an interview with The Washington Post, Mr Weeks said it was surreal meeting Mr Haqqani.
"I was quite humbled that he actually turned up at the airport himself personally to greet me and I spent two hours with him in the morning," he said.
Mr Weeks told the US newspaper he was in Doha to support civilians who have lived through decades of conflict as well as "the Taliban and all of those that are willing to look at a peaceful resolution to this long-running war".
Timothy Weeks appeared pale and drawn in a video released in January, 2017. Source: AAP
He said he was invited by the Taliban but paid for his own transportation and accommodation.
The deal
Washington and the Taliban are set to sign a deal Saturday to secure America's exit from its longest war through gradually withdrawing troops and starting talks between Kabul and the insurgents.
The agreement will likely be heralded as marking the start of a hopeful new era for Afghanistan, which has seen 40 years of conflict.
But what happens next is anyone's guess, with questions swirling around the Taliban's intentions and Afghanistan once more in the grip of a political crisis threatening to plunge the impoverished country further into the abyss.
The accord comes after more than a year of talks between the Taliban and the US that faltered repeatedly as violence raged.
While the deal's contents have not been publicly disclosed, it is expected to see the Pentagon begin pulling troops from Afghanistan, where between 12,000-13,000 are currently based.
The US has said an initial drawdown over the coming months would be to about 8,600 - similar to the troop level President Donald Trump inherited after his 2016 election win.
A team moves a case containing the remains of a US soldier who died in Afghanistan. Source: AAP
Further reductions depend on how well the Taliban honour pledges to start talks with the government of President Ashraf Ghani - who until now they have dismissed as a US-backed puppet - and seek a comprehensive "intra-Afghan" ceasefire and peace deal.
The insurgents are also supposed to guarantee Afghanistan is never again used by jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and IS to plot foreign attacks - a concept even some of Mr Trump's closest advisors remain deeply sceptical of.
In the run-up to the event, the Taliban, US and Afghan forces agreed to a partial week-long truce that entered its sixth day on Thursday.
While the truce does not amount to a full ceasefire, the number of Taliban attacks has fallen dramatically.
The situation remains fragile however, with the interior ministry reporting a policeman's death due to a roadside bomb in northern Balkh province on Thursday.
Additional reporting: AFP
