The FBI has issued a missing person notice for Afghan American Mahmood Shah Habibi, offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his location and safe return.
In its statement, the FBI said Habibi, the former head of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, was abducted on Aug. 10, 2022, from his car near his residence in Kabul. The agency said he was allegedly detained along with his driver and 29 employees of the Kabul-based Asian Consulting Group (ACG), a telecommunications company, by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence.
Habibi’s family says he holds US citizenship and was taken by the Taliban three years ago on Aug. 10, 2022. His brother, Ahmad Shah Habibi, wrote in The Hill that there is ample evidence his brother is in Taliban custody, despite the group’s repeated denials.
“This denial comes despite abundant witness testimony and technical evidence showing the Taliban detained him,” Ahmad Shah wrote. “They even claimed they had never heard his name — that they had checked their prisons and found no one matching his description. They suggested he may have died. In contrast, people arrested alongside my brother by Taliban intelligence have testified they saw him.”
The Taliban have not issued a new official comment on the case but have consistently claimed they do not hold Habibi.
In an earlier exclusive, Reuters quoted US sources as saying Habibi may have been detained in connection with the US drone strike in Kabul that killed former al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Reuters also reported that Habibi’s phone was detected inside the Taliban intelligence headquarters in Kabul in 2023 and that a letter seen by the outlet suggested Taliban authorities had implicitly acknowledged his detention.
The letter, dated Sept. 15, 2022, showed ACG requesting that families be allowed to visit Habibi and three other employees still in custody. Two days later, the Taliban’s Ministry of Telecommunications replied that the intelligence directorate would decide on the request after concluding its investigation — a response Reuters said appeared to be an implicit confirmation.
Former prosecutor Ghulam Farooq Aleem told Amu TV that the evidence shows “beyond doubt” Habibi is in Taliban detention, but the group has adopted a policy of denial to ease US pressure.
“While there is irrefutable evidence that Mr. Habibi is in Taliban custody, the Taliban have adopted a policy of denial. To reduce US pressure on them, they try to insist that Mr. Habibi is not in their prison,” he said.
Sources, including some within the Taliban, previously told Amu that Habibi is being held in a Taliban prison in Kandahar. Ahmad Shah wrote in The Hill that efforts to locate his brother have intensified with Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
