US threatens bounties on Taliban leaders over detained Americans

WASHINGTON: The US may place a “very big bounty” on the top leaders of the Taliban, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, adding he was hearing that the Taliban held more American hostages than previously reported.

“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio said in a post on social media platform X.

“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 Bin Laden,” he added.

The post did not give further details or specify the number of Americans held by the Taliban.

Authorities in Kabul said in the past week that the United States freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and extremism in exchange for two U.S. citizens held in Afghanistan.

Afghan officials said on Tuesday the man, Khan Mohammad, had landed in Kabul after being released. A spokesman for the Taliban administration confirmed that two Americans were released in the exchange.

One of the Americans released was Ryan Corbett, according to a statement by his family. Corbett had been in Taliban detention since 2022, according to the family. US media outlets said the other American released was named William McKenty.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021 following a chaotic US withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Thursday he had applied for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.

Rubio’s threat marks a sharp rhetorical shift in the Biden-era approach, with echoes of former president Donald Trump’s confrontational style. Trump’s administration broke taboos by directly negotiating with the Taliban and brokered a controversial deal to withdraw US troops, ending America’s longest war.

Biden adhered to the agreement, which led to the Taliban swiftly regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021. The chaotic US withdrawal drew heavy criticism, particularly after a deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport killed 13 American troops and dozens of Afghans.

Since then, US engagements with the Taliban have been minimal. Some members of Trump’s Republican Party have criticised even limited humanitarian assistance authorised by the Biden administration, which insisted that funds were directed toward urgent needs and not routed through the Taliban.