After the Taliban returned the wrongfully detained American Amir Amiry to the United States on Sept. 28, news of further prisoner trades has percolated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Amiry’s release was “an important step forward” to getting freedom for “additional Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.” At the time of Amiry’s release, a U.S. official told the New York Times that there were three Americans in Taliban custody.
The most widely known detainee is Mahmood Habibi, whom the Taliban continue to claim is not in their custody. The claim is easily refuted, including by witnesses who saw Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence members arrest Habibi in August 2022, by witnesses who have seen Habibi at GDI headquarters, and by technical evidence that Habibi’s phone was turned on inside GDI headquarters as recently as August 2023.
