US to Offer Bigger Head Money on Afghan Taliban Leaders than Osama Bin Laden: Rubio

US Secretary Rubio says Taliban is holding more American hostages in Afghanistan

Sun Jan 26 2025
icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has threatened to impose substantial bounties on Afghan Taliban leaders over allegations that they are holding more American citizens hostage in Afghanistan 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.

His remarks come shortly after the Taliban government and the United States held a high-profile prisoner exchange, a final act under the former administration of President Joe Biden.

Under that agreement, the Taliban freed Ryan Corbett, a well-known American detained in August 2022, and William McKenty, another American about whom little has been disclosed. In exchange, the US released Khan Mohammed, convicted of drug trafficking and plotting to kill US troops, who had been serving a life sentence in a jail in California.

The Taliban assumed control of Afghanistan in 2021 after a tumultuous withdrawal of U.S. forces, marking the end of a 20-year conflict.

taliban
This photo taken on August 13, 2022, shows Afghanistan’s Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund (C) and Minister for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Sheikh Mohammad Khalid (L) at a gathering at the former presidential palace in Kabul. —Photo by AFP

On Thursday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he had requested arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders, including the group’s supreme spiritual leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. The charges include the persecution of women and girls.

Rubio’s threatening statement clearly shows a rhetorical shift in the Biden-era approach, with a confrontational style of President Donald Trump. Trump’s administration had directly brokered a deal with the Taliban to withdraw US troops, ending America’s longest war.

It is pertinent to mention that some members of the Republican Party have criticised even limited humanitarian assistance authorised by the Biden administration in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the US has already frozen nearly all US aid globally. Rubio’s position highlights a harder line against the Taliban, who remain unrecognised internationally.

The situation raises questions about US policy regarding detained Americans and its overall strategy toward Afghanistan during Rubio’s tenure as Secretary of State.

icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp