Australian academic Timothy Weeks is back home in Australia after being released by the Taliban in a prisoner swap.
Mr Weeks, a teacher from Wagga Wagga in NSW, was freed from custody in Afghanistan along with his American colleague Kevin King, three years after they were abducted at gunpoint.
The 50-year-old arrived at Sydney Airport last night after being transferred from a US military base in Germany.
"I am very pleased to confirm that Tim has returned to Australia," Foreign Minister Marise Payne told ABC radio Friday.
"It has been an extraordinarily long three years for him and for his family.
"I've spoken this week to Professor Weeks - that was a very special conversation - and one I've been hoping to have for a long time."
Mr Weeks and Mr King, 63, were grabbed outside the American University in Kabul in 2016 and released in exchange for three members of the Taliban.
The pair were handed over to US forces in southern Afghanistan and flown out of the country by chopper to receive medical care.
Senator Payne said it was an enormous relief for Mr Weeks and his family.
Wagga Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said it was "fantastic news" that he had finally been set free.
"As a community, as a city, we're delighted that he has been released after all this time," Mr Conkey told AAP.
"It's hard to imagine what he has suffered during these last three years."
"The family has been extremely supportive, and what they've gone through has been obviously very incredible as well, there's a lot of stress that the family has suffered."
"Hopefully, he'll be given the time that he requires to recover from this ordeal."
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