US designates Afghanistan as ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 9 he has designated Afghanistan as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention”, demanding that the Taliban authorities release two Americans and commit to ending its “hostage diplomacy”.

The move, described by the Afghan authorities as “regrettable”, comes just over a week after Iran became the first country added to Washington’s new “wrongful detention” blacklist.

President Donald Trump in September 2025 signed an executive order that created the blacklist, similar to designations by the United States on terrorism.

“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Mr Rubio said in a statement.

He said it was “not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals”.

In response, the Afghan foreign ministry denied that foreign nationals had been detained for ransom.

“Certain individuals have been detained on charges of violating established laws, and in many instances, they have been released in the normal course following the completion of legal procedures,” it said in a statement in English.

The Taliban authorities returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, leading to the collapse of the previous government and the hasty departure of US troops, who had ended their rule between 1996 and 2001.

Mr Rubio called on the government in Kabul to release US citizens Dennis Coyle and Mahmoud Habibi, as well as “all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever”.

Mr Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman, previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.

He was arrested in August 2022 in Kabul, along with dozens of other employees of his telecommunications company, according to US authorities.

The State Department has issued a reward of US$5 million (S$6.4 million) for information leading to Mr Habibi’s return.

Mr Coyle is an academic from Colorado who worked for two decades in Afghanistan before being detained in January 2025, according to the James Foley Foundation.

The Afghan foreign ministry said that in the last year, the country “has taken positive steps as a goodwill gesture regarding the cases of some detained US nationals”.

A number of US citizens were freed in 2025. In September 2025, Mr Amir Amiri, who had been held since December 2024, was handed over to Mr Trump’s special envoy for hostages, Mr Adam Boehler, who was in Kabul to negotiate a prisoner exchange.

Chinese American Faye Hall, who was arrested in February 2025 in central Bamiyan province, was also freed.

In January 2025, two Americans were freed in exchange for Afghan fighter Khan Mohammed, who had been convicted of drug trafficking in the US.

Another American, aerospace engineer George Glezmann, was released after more than two years in detention during a visit by Mr Boehler in March 2025.

The Afghan ministry pointed out that talks between Kabul and Washington have been held with the mediation of Qatar.

It said it wanted the issue of detentions “to be appropriately resolved and concluded through the ongoing discussions and constructive engagement between the two sides”. AFP