Taliban ambassador warns Rubio against bounty threat over Americans detained in Afghanistan

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

A prisoner swap between the U.S. 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.”

The Taliban fought U.S. and NATO forces for two decades, eventually returning to power in August 2021 amid a deadly and chaotic withdrawal of foreign troops. Shaheen was part of the Taliban’s negotiating team in Doha to secure a peace deal for Afghanistan.

He said the recent release of another foreigner, Canadian David Lavery, from an Afghan jail had been achieved through mediation by the “friendly country of Qatar” and positive interactions with the Taliban government on such cases.

Earlier Monday, Canada’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, said she had spoken with Lavery upon his arrival in Qatar.

“He is in good spirits,” Joly wrote on X, thanking Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani for helping facilitate Lavery’s release.