Biden known as households of three People held by Taliban to inform them he hasn’t reached deal to free them

File: U.S.-Afghan nationwide Mahmood Habibi, believed by U.S. to be detained by Taliban

FBI public discover

Mahmood Habibi disappeared in Afghanistan in 2022, and the Taliban denied abducting him. In a public discover posted by the FBI in August 2024, the company mentioned it “believed” that Habibi was taken by Taliban army or safety forces and “has not been heard from since his disappearance.” The FBI mentioned in its discover that Habibi was working as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecom firm when he disappeared.

The Taliban nonetheless say they don’t have Habibi in custody.

Requested whether or not Mahmoud had disappeared in Afghanistan, Mujahid mentioned, “It’s not clear either, because we didn’t know him before.”

“We know the other families are desperate to get their loved ones home and I told the president we want them home, too,” Ahmad Habibi added. “But anyone speculating that my brother is dead is just feeding into Taliban claims. We are grateful that President Biden committed to not leave Mahmood behind,” and he mentioned that nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan had additionally made related assurances.

The FBI declined to remark.

File: Ryan Corbett in Afghanistan.

Courtesy Corbett household

Corbett, who’s fluent in Pashto, was working for native nongovernmental organizations earlier than beginning a microloan and consulting enterprise in Kabul when he was arrested with three associates — one German and two Afghans — throughout a enterprise journey to northern Afghanistan in 2022.

Glezmann is an Atlanta native who was detained whereas on a vacationer go to in December 2022.

File: The U.S. considers George Glezmann to be wrongfully detained by the Taliban.

James Foley Basis web site

The household of Ryan Corbett is publicly calling on Mr. Biden to think about a deal to carry him and Glezmann dwelling.

“He was very kind and empathetic, but what I heard him say is he’s not bringing Ryan home, and that was just devastating,” Anna Corbett mentioned. She blasted Mr. Biden for refusing to conform to the Taliban’s phrases for a deal. “It is not being taken and it is incredibly crushing to our family.”

She has launched a public marketing campaign in latest days to induce the incoming administration to press for her husband’s launch, and he or she traveled to President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence in hopes of constructing an in-person plea to Trump. Neither Mr. Biden nor Trump have met along with her but.

The Taliban have been demanding that the U.S. launch Muhammed Rahim al-Afghani, who’s being held in indefinite law-of-war detention at Guantanamo Bay. A supply aware of his case mentioned the U.S. intelligence group and Pentagon oppose Rahim’s launch and couldn’t assure that he now not represented a risk to the U.S. Nevertheless, the president may waive that if he decided it have been within the U.S. curiosity to finalize a prisoner swap.

Rahim was captured in Pakistan in 2007 by the CIA and was the final detainee despatched to the Guantanamo jail facility by the Bush administration in 2008. He has by no means been charged with conflict crimes, however the periodic evaluation board has deemed his continued detention a nationwide safety necessity. His 2016 intelligence profile describes him as a courier for al Qaeda.

In its assertion acknowledging the cellphone name, the White Home additionally famous that Mr. Biden had been in a position to carry dwelling U.S. residents who had been detained earlier than the U.S. exit from Afghanistan in 2021. Corbett, Glezmann and Habibi have been detained after touring to Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to energy. That ascendance of the Taliban adopted a diplomatic deal negotiated by the Trump administration for U.S. troops to withdraw and a surprisingly sturdy Taliban army offensive that caught the Biden administration off guard, resulting in a hasty and chaotic U.S. evacuation. Unwilling to stay with out U.S. troops, NATO forces additionally pulled out.

The U.S. doesn’t formally acknowledge the Taliban, with its horrific human rights document, because the respectable authorities of Afghanistan however has been involved with its leaders by means of U.S. businesses in addition to through the Qatari authorities. Final weekend in Doha, Particular Presidential Envoy Roger Carstens and NSC official Jen Daskal pressed for a cope with the Taliban to free the People.

A U.S. official described the Doha conferences as unsuccessful however declined to element which different people the Biden administration was keen to supply to the Taliban as a part of a possible commerce. The White Home described the Biden efforts as persevering with by means of the top of his time period.

Mr. Biden has devoted a lot of his profession to international coverage, and that portion of his legacy is extraordinarily necessary to him. In a speech Monday on the State Division, the president will describe the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan, arguably his greatest international coverage failure, as having efficiently ended America’s longest conflict.

Camilla Schick

contributed to this report.

Afghanistan: The New Actuality

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Margaret Brennan

Margaret Brennan is moderator of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” She can be the Community’s chief international affairs correspondent based mostly in Washington, D.C. and a contributing correspondent to “60 Minutes.”