An American Hostage the Taliban Won’t Admit Exists

More than three years after his detention in Kabul, Mahmood Habibi remains invisible to the world. While the Taliban has released three other Americans since January 2025 in deals celebrated by both the Biden and Trump administrations, the Afghan-American telecommunications expert sits in a legal and diplomatic limbo that his family says grows more dangerous by the day. The Taliban continues to deny holding him at all, despite what United States officials describe as overwhelming evidence to the contrary.The 39-year-old father disappeared on August 10, 2022, arrested outside his home in Kabul’s Sherpur neighborhood by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence. He was one of 31 employees of a telecommunications company detained that day. Within weeks, 29 were released. More than three years later, Habibi and one colleague remain imprisoned without charges, without trial, and according to the Taliban’s official position, without existence.The Shadow of a Drone StrikeThe timing of Mr. Habibi’s arrest was not coincidental. Just ten days earlier, a CIA drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda who by some estimations succeeded Osama bin Laden. The strike hit a safe house in Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan district, revealing that senior al-Qaeda leadership had been operating openly in Afghanistan under Taliban protection.Mr. Habibi worked for ARX Communications, a Virginia-based firm that operated Afghanistan’s civilian airport infrastructure, including radar and air traffic control systems. The company has categorically denied any involvement in the Zawahiri strike. In the Taliban’s calculus, however, Mr. Habibi’s work with aviation technology, his American citizenship, and his previous service under the NATO-backed Afghan government made him a convenient scapegoat.Mr. Habibi had served as director of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority and as deputy minister of civil aviation before the Taliban takeover in 2021. Between 2011 and 2013, he worked with the United States Embassy in Kabul. Multiple witnesses saw Taliban intelligence officers arrest Habibi and search his home, seizing paperwork and his laptop. Yet Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement in July claiming an internal investigation found no evidence that any Taliban-affiliated agency had arrested Habibi.“He is an innocent U.S. citizen, and the Taliban’s denials that they arrested him are directly contradicted by witness statements and technical evidence in the possession of the US government,” Ahmad Habibi, Mahmood’s brother, told reporters.Success Stories Make One Failure More GlaringThe stark contrast with recent American releases makes Mr. Habibi’s continued detention all the more troubling. In the final hours of President Biden’s administration early last year, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were freed in exchange for Khan Mohammed, a Taliban member serving dual life sentences in California for narco-terrorism. Mr. Corbett, a New York businessman and humanitarian aid worker, had been held for 894 days.“We were overjoyed last year when Ryan finally came home and was reunited with his family,” the director of Hostage Advocacy and Research at the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Elizabeth Richards, tells the Sun. “We know how hard his wife, Anna, fought for his release.”In March, George Glezmann, a Delta Airlines mechanic captured visiting Afghanistan as a tourist, was released after more than two years in captivity. Notably, his release required no prisoner exchange — the Taliban described it as a goodwill gesture toward President Trump. Less than two weeks later, the Taliban freed another American, Faye Hall, also without demanding anyone in return.The releases came amid unprecedented diplomatic engagement between the Trump administration and the Taliban. Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, made multiple visits to Kabul alongside Zalmay Khalilzad, who led negotiations with the Taliban during Trump’s first term.However, Mahmood Habibi was not part of any of these deals.The Diplomatic Dead EndThe Taliban’s refusal to acknowledge holding Mr. Habibi creates a diplomatic catch-22. Traditional hostage negotiations require both parties to admit a person is being detained. Without that acknowledgment, there is no official person to negotiate over.“Where the USG may be more inclined to allow for more public-related types of pressure will depend on the type of group it is dealing with,” a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and former State Department official, Jason Blazakis, tells the Sun. “Even though the Taliban is not recognized by the U.S., it is the de facto government. As such, it allows for more open pressure than, say, trying to publicize a case where you have a purely transnational group involved, such as ISIS.”Mr. Blazakis explains that a government will not want to have its excesses under a microscope, unlike a purely terrorist organization. This dynamic creates an opening for public pressure campaigns that would be counterproductive with groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda.“The Taliban craves support from the international community, albeit, for the most part, without sacrificing their worldview,” he continues. American officials insist, however, that Mr. Habibi’s case is a priority in every engagement with the Taliban. In July, the State Department and the FBI announced a $5 million reward under the Rewards for Justice program for information leading to Habibi’s location, recovery, and safe return.In September 2024, unconfirmed reports surfaced claiming the Taliban had transferred Mr. Habibi to al-Qaeda custody, though his brother Ahmad disputed this. Taliban sources later told Afghanistan International that Mr. Habibi had been moved to Kandahar about a year ago following increased pressure from Washington.Leverage and LimitsThe Trump administration appears to be pursuing a transactional approach with the Taliban. Officials have made clear they want all detained Americans released, the return of American military equipment left behind during the 2021 withdrawal, and cooperation on counterterrorism.“The U.S still has billions of Afghanistan’s assets frozen. That is leverage,” Mr. Blazakis says. “Second, the Taliban wants recognition. That is leverage. Third, the UN still has the Taliban and several leaders sanctioned. That is leverage.”He notes that negotiations can take place directly between the United States and the Taliban or through intermediaries. “We have seen in several hostage cases governments like Qatar play a role,” Mr. Blazakis continues. “They have a long history of being part of negotiations between the US and the Taliban.”In talks with American officials in March, Taliban representatives raised the prospect of the United States recognizing them as Afghanistan’s official government and requested permission to open an office on American soil. Of the world’s biggest economies, only Russia has recognized the Taliban since they retook power in 2021, leaving Afghanistan internationally isolated.Representative Zoe Lofgren, whose California district includes Mr. Habibi’s father, has repeatedly called on the Trump administration to prioritize his release. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey also co-sponsored a resolution demanding Mr. Habibi’s freedom. Mr. Habibi’s father, Ahmadullah Habibi, attended the 2024 State of the Union address as Representative Lofgren’s guest.A Family’s VigilBehind the diplomatic maneuvering and legislative resolutions, a family waits in anguish.Mr. Habibi’s wife, Zulhija, and their young daughter made it to the United States and now live with the daily uncertainty of not knowing when, or if, he will come home. Their daughter, who was not yet two when her father was detained, has grown up watching videos Zulhija recorded to show Mahmood what he has missed.Mr. Habibi is not the only American still unaccounted for in Afghanistan. Dennis Coyle, a 64-year-old Colorado academic researcher who spent nearly two decades in Afghanistan conducting linguistic surveys, was detained by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence on January 27, 2025. He is being held in near-solitary confinement without charges. Meanwhile, Paul Overby, an American author who disappeared in May 2014 while researching a book on the Taliban, remains missing more than a decade later. The Taliban has denied holding him, and his whereabouts remain unknown despite a five-million-dollar FBI reward for information.Ms. Richards, however, notes that attention and support for hostage cases are uneven. Yet for each of these families, the struggle to keep their loved ones’ cases in the public eye has become an exhausting second ordeal.“We know families struggle to get attention from reporters, and there are times when journalists may put too much credence on the captor’s narrative, which hurts the individual being held and their family,” she says.President Trump signed Executive Order 14348, Strengthening Efforts To Protect United States Nationals From Wrongful Detention Abroad, in September 2025. The order empowers the Secretary of State to designate foreign countries as State Sponsors of Wrongful Detention, which would authorize sanctions, export controls, travel restrictions, and suspension of foreign assistance against countries that hold Americans for political leverage. Yet it has not been invoked against Afghanistan.“Since that Executive Order was signed, though, we have not seen it used, even though the Taliban continues to hold Americans,” Ms. Richards adds. “If the Taliban continues to refuse to release Dennis Coyle, and Mahmood Habibi, and account for Paul Overby, we would like President Trump to use his executive order to name Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. The families of Dennis, Mahmood, and Paul deserve accountability and justice.”

An American Hostage the Taliban Won’t Admit Exists

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