Taliban warn Rubio against bounty threat over Americans detained in Afghanistan

A Taliban ambassador on Monday warned the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against making threats after saying he would place bounties on Afghanistan’s rulers for their continued detention of US nationals.

A prisoner swap between the US and Afghanistan last week freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure, Khan Muhammad.

The deal to release Ryan Corbett and William McKenty was brokered by Joe Biden ‘s administration before he left office. But two more Americans, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi, remain in Taliban custody. The Taliban have not revealed how many foreigners are behind bars.

“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio said in a post on X Saturday. “If this is true, we will have to immediately place a very big bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on (Osama) bin Laden.”

The Taliban’s ambassador to Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, said it was the policy of the Afghan government to resolve issues peacefully through dialogue, and he fired a warning shot at Rubio. “In the face of pressure and aggression, the jihad (struggle) of the Afghan nation in recent decades is a lesson that everyone should learn from.”