Two Western hostages held by the Taliban since 2016 are likely to be dead, speaker of Afghanistan's lower house said on Saturday.

Afghan government said on Tuesday it would release Anas Haqqani, a leader of the Taliban’s Haqqani militant faction and two other commanders in exchange for two university professors, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks.
The exchange has, however, not taken place.
“The collapse of deal to exchange Taliban prisoners for the teachers of American University of Afghanistan suggests that the Taliban are indecisive and unfaithful ,” Mir Rahman Rahmani, speaker of Afghanistan’s lower house said.
“Taliban showed that they don’t have the authority to decide about war and peace and cannot even making decision about the release of their sons is not in their authority, or it is possible that the hostages are no more alive,” Rahmani said.
King and Weeks were kidnapped in August 2016 from outside the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul where both worked as professors.
Both men have reportedly suffered fromhealthissues in captivity.