An American professor who was taken hostage by the Taliban more than three years ago will be freed as part of a prisoner-swap deal with the Afghan government. The New York Times reports Prof. Kevin King, 63, will be released alongside Australian Prof. Timothy Weeks, 50, according to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. In return, his government will release three senior Taliban figures, including Anas Haqqani, who is the younger brother of the Taliban’s military operations leader. The Times reports the gesture will serve as a major step toward restarting the stalled peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban. In a TV address Tuesday morning, Ghani said the exchange would “facilitate direct peace negotiations.” He didn’t disclose the current whereabouts of the two professors from American University of Afghanistan, who were abducted in Kabul in 2016, but said their health had deteriorated while being held captive. In a 2017 statement, the Taliban said King was suffering from heart and kidney problems.