‘American Taliban’ John Walker Lindh set to be freed after 17 years. Is the US ready to welcome him back into society?
- John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, will be released from a US federal prison on Thursday, three years early
- Questions remain about his extremist beliefs and if he will be welcomed back into American society
John Walker Lindh’s eyes, dark and wild, were ubiquitous across magazine covers and cable news channels, alongside militants in Afghanistan, after he was captured in November 2001.
He was a long-haired guerilla with a California address – a traitor to some, a misguided kid sucked into Islamic jihad to others.
Dubbed the “American Taliban”, Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to supporting militants who harboured al-Qaeda as it planned the attacks of September 11.
But in a surprise move to some, Lindh will be released from a US federal prison on Thursday, three years early, federal officials said.
Lindh and other incarcerated American supporters of Islamic militants present a quandary with growing urgency: is the United States prepared to try to rehabilitate extremists and foreign fighters, and welcome them back into society?
“There is very close to nothing in terms of deradicalising programmes at the federal level,” said Bennett Clifford, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Programme on Extremism.
“The current model is hoping long prison sentences for material support of terrorism will be a deterrent.”