American citizen who helped Taliban released from prison

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A California man dubbed the "American Taliban" following his capture on a battlefield in Afghanistan in 2001 was released from prison Thursday after serving 17 years, authorities confirmed, amid allegations of his continued adherence to extremist views.

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Lindh, who was convicted of providing support to the Taliban, was freed three years early for good behavior

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Lindh, raised a Catholic, converted to Islam as a teenager after seeing the film "Malcolm X" and went overseas to study Arabic and the Koran. In November 2000 he traveled to Pakistan and from there made his way to Afghanistan where he was a volunteer at an al-Qaeda training camp. He was with the Taliban at the time of the 9/11 attacks and was captured in the U.S.-backed retaliatory raids on Afghanistan.

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