Rubio designates Afghanistan a ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’, urges release of Americans
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Monday designated Afghanistan as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” accusing the Taliban of unjustly detaining Americans and other foreign nationals and calling for their immediate release, Rubio said in a statement.
“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Rubio said, adding that the group’s “despicable tactics need to end.” He urged the Taliban to free Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi and “all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now,” and warned it is not safe for Americans to travel to the country, Rubio said.
Rubio’s statement cited the cases of Coyle and Habibi. Coyle, 64, was detained more than a year ago without charges by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, his family said. His family said he was working legally as an academic researcher supporting Afghan language communities. The State Department and the FBI said Habibi, 38, an American who was born in Afghanistan, was taken with his driver in Kabul in August 2022 by the Taliban’s intelligence agency.
The FBI said Habibi once served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation and worked for the Kabul-based telecommunications company Asia Consultancy Group. The FBI said the Taliban detained 29 other employees of the company but has released most of them. The State Department and the FBI said Habibi has not been heard from since his arrest and the Taliban has not disclosed his whereabouts or condition; the Taliban has previously denied detaining him, the agencies said.
Rubio also called for the return of the remains of author Paul Overby, last seen near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan in 2014, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. Reuters also reported that the State Department could restrict the use of U.S. passports for travel to Afghanistan if the Taliban does not meet U.S. demands; such a restriction is currently in place only for North Korea, the report said. The Taliban called Rubio’s designation regrettable and said it sought to resolve the issue through dialogue, according to the group.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. forces withdrew, ending a two-decade military presence in the country. Rubio last month gave the same “state sponsor of wrongful detention” designation to Iran and warned that ending hostage-taking and releasing detained Americans could end that designation, Rubio said at the time.
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