In the final hours of his term, President Joe Biden negotiated a prisoner swap with the Taliban that released U.S. citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McEntee from Taliban custody.
However, not included in the deal were U.S. citizens George Glezman and Mahmoud Habibi.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that he was “just hearing” about the detention of additional Americans by the Taliban.
“If this is true, we must immediately place very great grace in their top leadership, perhaps even greater than the leadership we had in bin Laden,” Rubio wrote. Masu.
Two Americans freed in exchange for Taliban prisoners
Dennis Fitzpatrick, who is coordinating efforts outside the U.S. government for Glezman's release, argued that Glezman was “never a serious priority for the Biden White House.”
“With President Biden [former National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan decided to leave George Glezman for Kabul. Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital.
The two U.S. citizens, George Glezman, left, and Mahmoud Habibi, were not included in the recent Biden administration deal that freed two other Americans from the Taliban. (James Foley Foundation/Getty Images)
Fitzpatrick added that Glezman, 66, is a “totally innocent man” who was “unlawfully detained before he was a hard-working, blue-collar airline mechanic.”
Glezman has been in custody since Dec. 5, 2022, when he traveled to Afghanistan to “explore the country's cultural landscape and rich history.”
The resolution states that Glezman's mental and physical condition has deteriorated as a result of being detained in a 9-foot square underground cell. He was allowed only limited calls to his family, and as a result of his detention experienced “facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions.”
former president joe biden in the white house (Anna Money Maker)
The Taliban admit to holding Glezman, but insist they do not hold Mahmoud Habibi.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President J.D. Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremony Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Habibi's brother Ahmad told Fox News Digital: “I know the family.”[s] That my brother is still in Taliban custody. I can't share much about it because we don't want to put him or others at risk. But those who are accepting the Taliban's hollow offer are accepting the offer that he does not have.
“We have multiple witnesses to his arrest. [General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI)]. There are multiple witnesses who were detained with him at GDI headquarters. The Taliban always claim they don't have him and don't know who he is. How do they explain the apparent contradiction to this? ”
Ahmad also claimed a family[s] that the U.S. government has technical evidence that Mahmood was in GDI custody long after his arrest; ”
He claims the Biden National Security Council “micromanaged the State Department's efforts to secure my brother's release” and was “blocked.” [the State Department] From using the data in discussions with the Taliban, we told them that they would have directly faced the Taliban's claim that they had never heard of my brother. Despite what I said.
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Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council responded to Fox News Digital's request to confirm Ahmad's claims.
Fox News Digital also contacted Taliban spokespeople Zabihullah Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen about Habibi's detention and asked Mujahid what happened to Habibi after he was arrested by the GDI. Mujahid did not respond. Shaheen directed Fox News Digital to reach out to GDI and did not claim knowledge of the situation.
The Taliban have long sought the release of Guantanamo Bay detainee and al-Qaeda facilitator Muhammad Rahim in exchange for the Americans they admit are in prison. Ahmad Habibi said that Biden, the president of CBS News, assured him in a January 12 phone call that the United States would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.
Taliban fighters in Kabul, Afghanistan (AP Photo/ebrahim noroozi)
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Hugh Duggan, the former vice presidential special envoy for hostage issues, said the Trump administration could pursue multiple “efforts” to secure the release of Glezman and Habibie.
Dugan said this could include a “full military rescue” at some level, or continue “subtle diplomacy in the background.”
Dugan said, “To say we're doing the best we can…frankly or anyone isn't happy with the family, and they're worried about what you might have eluded us all along.” That you continue to identify or that you want to hear that there are cracks opening on the horizon.
“And we need to recognize that it is another step on the road to recovery, and that at any time we will need to modify our set of efforts to accommodate the new reality.”
