Families of American hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan have asked Joe Biden “to do the right thing” and bring the men home before he leaves office, after months of lobbying the outgoing president to broker a deal with the hardline Islamist regime.
Three US citizens – George Glezmann, Ryan Corbett and Mahmood Shah Habibi – are believed to have been in the Taliban’s custody since 2022. The Taliban has confirmed it is holding two of the men but consistently denied detaining Mr Habibi.
Mr Biden held a call with family members of all three American nationals on Sunday as his administration said it was working on a deal that could bring them home in exchange for Afghan national Muhammad Rahim, a Guantanamo Bay detainee and a close aide of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Mr Biden “emphasised his administration’s commitment to the cause of bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas”, the White House said.
He told the families that his administration would not trade Mr Rahim, labelled a “high-value detainee” by the Department of Defence, unless the Taliban releases Mr Habibi, family members told The Independent. Mr Rahim has been held at Guantanamo since 2008.
“During the phone call with Mr Biden, he assured me that he will not finalise the trade unless my brother is included,” Mr Habibi’s brother Ahmad Shah Habibi said, adding that the Taliban wanted the al-Qaeda adviser in return.
“The US government is asking for three-to-three trade, however they have not reached a conclusion yet. President Biden said negotiations are still going on and he will try to close the deal only if that includes all three Americans including my brother,” he said.
Mr Rahim is one of the 15 remaining out of nearly 800 men imprisoned at Guantanamo under former president George W Bush.
The Taliban had countered the US proposal with an offer to exchange Mr Glezmann and Mr Corbett for Mr Rahim and two others, Reuters reported quoting a source.
Once believed to be a direct adviser, courier and operative for Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda figures, Mr Rahim is considered too dangerous for release by the US authorities.
The Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Independent that the matter of a prisoner exchange was currently under negotiation with the US, and without naming Mr Rahim, he confirmed they want “certain” Afghans to be released.
“We have our own demands and want certain Afghans held by the Americans to be released; in return, we will release the Americans we are holding. However, there must be an agreement on a mechanism for this exchange, which has not yet been agreed yet, but we remain in communication,” he said in a statement to The Independent.
However, with only days left until Mr Biden’s term ends, one of the hostage’s family expressed fears that time is running out. If the deal is not finalised, the task of bringing hostages back to America will be handed over to incoming president Donald Trump, who will likely be more focussed on other foreign policy priorities such as the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“I am crushed that we seem no closer to bringing Ryan home today than we were 886 days ago. I once again call on President Biden to do the right thing and bring Ryan and others home – the deal on the table would do that,” said Anna Corbett, the wife of Ryan Corbett.
The White House noted that Mr Biden has brought home more than 75 Americans unjustly detained around the world, including from Myanmar, China, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Venezuela and West Africa. His administration also brought home all Americans detained in Afghanistan before the US military withdrawal, it said.
A Senate intelligence committee report called Mr Rahim an “al Qaeda facilitator” and said he was arrested in Pakistan in June 2007 and “rendered” to the CIA the following month.
He was kept in a secret CIA “black site” where he was subjected to tough interrogation methods, including extensive sleep deprivation, and then sent to Guantanamo Bay, the report said.
Mr Biden last week sent 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, reducing the prisoner population at the detention centre in Cuba by nearly half as part of his effort to close the facility as the president prepares to leave office on 20 January.
