Family of third American held by Taliban calls for his immediate release: 'We are concerned'

U.S. citizen Mahmood Habibi ended his second year of detention in Afghanistan, as his Taliban captors continued to deny they hold him prisoner. Earlier this month, and for the first time, the State Department verbally countered the Taliban’s narrative that only two American citizens are in their custody.

Responding to questions sent by Fox News Digital, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in an Aug. 8 press conference that the State Department is "deeply concerned about the well-being of Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan," naming Habibi as well as George Glezmann and Ryan Corbett. 

In his press briefing, Miller explained that Glezmann and Corbett have been classified as "wrongfully detained," while Habibi is considered "unjustly detained." "We can’t make a wrongful determination because we don’t have access to certain types of information or because the situation is unclear," Miller explained. 

On Aug. 10, the FBI released a statement that they too are "seeking information into the disappearance" of Habibi.

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Mahmood Habibi poses for a photo with his young daughter in Qatar in June 2022, two months prior to his arrest by the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence. (Ahmad Habibi)

Habibi’s brother, Ahmad Shah Habibi, talked to Fox News Digital about the circumstances surrounding Mahmood’s detention. He said Mahmood traveled to Afghanistan in August 2022 for his position with Fairfax, Virginia-based ARX Communications because the Taliban had "welcomed" Afghans to return to the country and work for the future of Afghanistan.

The welcome was short-lived. On Aug. 10, the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence arrested Habibi and 29 of his colleagues, asking them whether they had information about the July 30 drone strike in Kabul that killed al Qaeda senior leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. All but two ARX Communications personnel were later released.

Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Ahmad firmly denies that his brother was involved in the strike on Zawahiri. He believes that the Taliban detained his brother because Mahmood was the deputy minister of the Civil Aviation Authority for the former Afghan government, and is a U.S. citizen. Mahmood gained citizenship in 2021.

Because the Taliban do not publicly acknowledge Mahmood’s detention, he is not allowed to call family or receive wellness checks from international diplomats. Ahmad said individuals inside Afghanistan told the family that Mahmood is alive, but he was reticent to provide further details about the source of this information. "We are concerned. I am not sure about his current condition or how he is doing," Ahmad said. 

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As former deputy minister of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, American citizen Mahmood Habibi was a staunch advocate for his country of birth before his arrest by the Taliban on Aug. 10, 2022. (Ahmad Habibi)

Ryan Corbett, also arrested Aug. 10, 2022, and George Glezmann, arrested Dec. 5, 2022, have suffered in Taliban custody. A Senate Resolution calling for Glezmann’s immediate release states that he experiences "facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions," and is facing rapid decline in his physical and mental health. A House resolution calling for Corbett’s immediate release states that he has been held in a basement cell with little access to sunlight, is fed scraps of fatty meat, and now experiences "seizures, fainting, and discolored extremities."

Unlike Habibi, Corbett and Glezmann have had sporadic access to wellness checks from Qatari diplomats, and are occasionally allowed to call their families.  

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid first acknowledged that the Taliban held two Americans in their prisons in March 2024, according Voice of America. Mujahid reiterated the message in July at the conclusion of controversial meetings in Doha between Taliban representatives and international leaders. Mujahid mentioned that the Taliban "also have prisoners in America, prisoners in Guantánamo. We should free our prisoners in exchange for them." 

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Three unnamed senior Taliban leaders indicated to CBS News in July that they would consider trading three American prisoners held in Afghanistan for Guantánamo Bay detainee Muhammad Rahim and two Afghans charged with drug-related offenses in U.S. prisons. By August, two officials "changed their previous statements," claiming that only two American prisoners were held, while the third "denied the [Taliban] held Habibi at all." 

Last week, Mujahid told Ariana News that the Taliban hold just two Americans "found guilty in Afghanistan for violating Afghan laws," and said "we don’t have anyone named Habibi in our prisons." Ariana News has likely become a mouthpiece for the Taliban since their return to power.

U.S. Army military police escort a detainee to his cell on Jan. 11, 2001, in Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Getty Images)

Rahim is the final Afghan detainee in Guantánamo Bay, according to Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the FDD’s Long War Journal. Roggio told Fox News Digital that the al Qaeda facilitator is "as nasty as they come." 

Roggio provided a Guantánamo Bay detainee report on Rahim from March 2016 that confirmed the prisoner has "become even more deeply committed to the group’s jihadist doctrine and Islamic extremism" in prison. Rahim reportedly "continues to view the U.S. and the West as enemies, has expressed support for and praised attacks by other terrorist groups, and has said he intends to return to jihad and kill Americans."  

Citing the Director of National Intelligence, Fox News reported in December that about 27% of released Guantánamo detainees "have returned to the battlefield."

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Ahmad Habibi advocates for his brother at the office of Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who sponsored a resolution calling for Mahmood Habibi’s release from Taliban custody on March 7, 2024. (Ahmad Habibi)

Fox News Digital reached out to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, head of the Taliban political office in Doha Suhail Shaheen, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi for information about Habibi’s case. Shaheen said he was not aware of Habibi’s case. Balkhi and Mujahid did not respond to questions about Habibi, or about which Afghans the Taliban seeks to exchange for American captives.

In their efforts to advocate for Mahmood, Ahmad says his family has met with the State Department and White House, as well as senators and representatives from California, Virginia and New Jersey. Ahmad reports that they are all "working hard to bring [Mahmood] home." 

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Ahmad noted that his brother’s arrest has impacted his entire family, including his elderly parents and Mahmood’s wife, Zulhija, who was a doctor in Afghanistan. Because of the stress of advocating for Mahmood and caring for their young daughter, Zulhija has been forced to put aside studying for the medical boards that will let her practice in the U.S. 

"Mahmood is in detention, but the family is like they’re all detained," Ahmad explained.