Lindh pleaded guilty to charges he had aided the former Afghan Taliban regime in violation of U.S. law and of carrying explosives in the commission of that crime.

Pleading guilty to the charges, each charge carries a maximum 10-year sentence, spared Lindh from life in prison. He now faces a possible 20 years in prison; with the possibility of probation eligibility, allowing him to serve his sentence outside prison.

Telling the court a deal was completed late Sunday night, and with Lindh in the courtroom preparing to start a 10-count indictment Monday morning, Lindh’s attorney, James Brosnahan, made the announcement: “We have a plea agreement,” he said.

Trial had been set to begin on August 26 for Lindh.

Federal prosecutors here agreed not to pursue the central count of conspiracy to murder other U.S. nationals, U.S. media reported.

CNN reports the announcement came as Lindh's attorneys were scheduled to try to block the U.S. government from using statements, including a CNN interview the American Taliban made following his capture in Afghanistan, as evidence in his upcoming trial.

Lindh was captured in Afghanistan by U.S.-backed Northern Alliance forces in November after a bloody prison uprising at Qala-i-Jangi fortress, where he was wounded in the leg, during which he gave statements to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and CNN.

He was returned to the United States in January.

Lindh’s attorneys argued that his statements to U.S. authorities should be suppressed because he was held for 55 days under what they call “torturous conditions” and was “completely intimidated, broken, mentally and physically,” reports CNN.

They also argued that U.S interrogators failed to read Lindh his Miranda rights, which requires suspects be told they have the right to an attorney and to remain silent.

U.S. prosecutors rejected those arguments saying Lindh was “treated with exceptional regard for his health, his safety and his security.” And that Lindh voluntarily waived his Miranda rights before being interrogated, reports CNN.

They also called Lindh an “unlawful enemy combatant,” a U.S. legal designation that they say makes the Miranda rights not applicable to U.S. soldiers in a war zone who are debriefing captured enemy combatants.

Lindh’s lawyers had repeatedly argued that he joined the Taliban to fight their Afghan rivals with the Northern Alliance, not his fellow citizens.

A son of a well-to-do California family, Lindh converted to Islam at 16 and moved first to Yemen and then to Pakistan for Qur’anic studies.