US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has escalated tensions with the Taliban, threatening to place significant bounties on their leaders amid allegations that more American citizens are detained in Afghanistan than previously reported.
Rubio’s remarks come shortly after the Taliban government and the United States conducted a high-profile prisoner exchange, a final act under former president Joe Biden’s administration.
In that deal, the Taliban released Ryan Corbett, a well-known American detained in August 2022, and William McKenty, another American about whom little has been disclosed. In exchange, the US freed Khan Mohammed, convicted of trafficking heroin and plotting to kill US troops, who had been serving a life sentence in a California prison.
Posting on social media, Marco Rubio wrote, “Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported. If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on bin Laden.”
This pointed reference recalls the $25 million bounty placed on Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, authorised by Congress to increase up to $50 million. However, no one is believed to have claimed the bounty before bin Laden’s death in a US raid in Pakistan in 2011.
Rubio’s threat marks a sharp rhetorical shift in the Biden-era approach, with echoes of former president Donald Trump’s confrontational style. Trump’s administration broke taboos by directly negotiating with the Taliban and brokered a controversial deal to withdraw US troops, ending America’s longest war.
Biden adhered to the agreement, which led to the Taliban swiftly regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021. The chaotic US withdrawal drew heavy criticism, particularly after a deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport killed 13 American troops and dozens of Afghans.
Since then, US engagements with the Taliban have been minimal. Some members of Trump’s Republican Party have criticised even limited humanitarian assistance authorised by the Biden administration, which insisted that funds were directed toward urgent needs and not routed through the Taliban.
Rubio has gone further by freezing nearly all US aid globally. His stance underscores a harder line against the Taliban, who remain unrecognised internationally due to their harsh policies, especially their restrictions on women and girls under an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
Adding to the mounting pressure, the International Criminal Court recently announced it is seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women.
The evolving situation raises questions about US policy on detained Americans and its broader approach to Afghanistan under Rubio’s tenure as Secretary of State.
