Rubio demands answers that 2 Americans said the Taliban

In the final hours of his term, President Joe Biden negotiated a prisoner swap with the Taliban that released Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty.

Included in the agreement, however, were US citizens George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi.

On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that the Taliban were “hearing” of additional American arrests.

“If that’s true, we’ll have to do it right away in their top leaders, maybe bin Laden is bigger than we’ve had” Rubio wrote.

2 Americans are released in exchange for a Taliban prisoner

Dennis Fitzpatrick, who coordinates the US government’s foreign affairs efforts, said Glezmann was “never a serious priority for the House of Biden.”

“President Biden And (former National Security Adviser) Jake Sullivan left Glezmann in Kabul. Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital.

Two US citizens, George Glezmann, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi, were not included in the Biden Administration deal that freed two other Americans from the Taliban. (James Foley Foundation/Getty Images)

FitzPatrick added that Glezmann, 66, is “absolutely innocent” and was “a hard-working, expensive-to-collar airline mechanic. He doesn’t deserve to be used as a pawn.”

Since moving to Afghanistan, Glezmann has been “exploring the country’s cultural landscape and rich history,” according to July 2024, calling his immediate release.

The ruling stated that Glezmann’s mental and physical condition was deteriorating in a nine-foot underground cell. He has been allowed only limited calls to family and has suffered from “facial tumors, high blood pressure, severe malnutrition and other medical conditions,” according to his arrest.

Former President Joe Biden in the White House (Anna Moneymaker)

While the Taliban admit to keeping Glezmann in custody, they say they do not have Mahmood Habib.

The Taliban have dismissed allegations of discrimination as “nonsense” despite banning women from the public in Afghanistan

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD at the Eisenhower Campus Building on the Eisenhower Campus in Washington, DC (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Habibi’s brother Ahmad told Fox News Digital that the family “know(s) that my brother is in Taliban custody. I can’t share that too much because we don’t want to risk it. The Taliban’s mere suggestion that they don’t is falling for their lies.”

“We have many witnesses to his arrest (of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI)). We have many witnesses with him at the GDI headquarters. The Taliban have always claimed that they do not know and do not know it is him. How do they explain the contradictions against it?”

Ahmad also “knows that the US government has technical evidence that Mahmood was in GDI custody after his arrest.”

Biden’s National Security Council “micromanaged the state department’s efforts to release my brother” and “blocked (the state department’s) efforts to discuss with the Taliban, even though we told them he would directly confront the Taliban’s claims that my brother has never heard.”

A top official in the fight against the Taliban says Afghanistan has once again become a crossroads of terrorism

Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council responded to Fox News Digital’s requests to confirm Ahmad’s claims.

Fox News Digital reached out to Taliban spokespersons Zabihullah Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen about Habibi’s arrest and asked Mujahid what happened to Habibi after he was arrested by the GDI. Mujahid did not answer. Shaheen directed Fox News Digital to reach out to GDI and claimed ignorance of the situation.

The Taliban have it He acquired it a long time ago Guantanamo Bay Detention and Al Qaeda accepted Muhammad Rahim in exchange for Americans who were in their prisons. Ahmad Habibi, president of the CBS News Cons, assured in a January 12 phone call that the US would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.

Taliban fighters in Kabul, Afghanistan (AP Photo / Ebrahim Norozi)

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Hugh Dugan, the chief guide to the presidency, told Fox News Digital The Trump Administration could make a “consistent effort” to secure release Glezmann and Habibi.

Dugan said this could mean “direct rescue by the military” at one level or pursue “subtle diplomacy behind the scenes”.

Dugan said that “we do everything we can say … it’s not a family member, honestly, or satisfied with anyone, and throughout the whole thing you keep identifying what it could be. They want to hear that there’s a crack in the horizon that’s opening up.

“And we have to realize that it can be another step on our way to recovery and a line of effort to adapt to new realities at a certain time.”