WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, just four days into his tenure, issued a pointed warning to the Taliban, suggesting that the United States may impose a bounty on their senior leadership exceeding the one placed on Osama bin Laden.
“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported. 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,” Rubio wrote on X.
The remarks follow reports that the Taliban are holding more American citizens in Afghanistan. While official U.S. accounts have previously mentioned three detainees — Ryan Corbett, Golzman, and Mahmood Shah Habibi — emerging information suggests the actual number could be higher, possibly up to seven.
Taliban have denied imprisoning Habibi, though a relative claimed in an interview with Amu TV that he was handed over to al-Qaeda. This allegation has not been independently verified.
Corbett and McKenty were released from Taliban custody in a prisoner exchange in the first days of Trump’s administration last week. The two were swapped for Khan Mohammad, a Taliban figure held by U.S. forces for nearly two decades. Mohammad, captured in Nangarhar Province, had been convicted on terrorism and drug trafficking charges and was serving a life sentence in the United States before his release.
