For months, US and Afghan officials have secretly negotiated the release of US detainees — a priority for President Donald Trump and a non-negotiable prerequisite for any further diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.
Yet even as at least five US prisoners have been freed from Afghanistan over the past year, talks have stalled over the fate of remaining detainees, according to three people involved in the negotiations.
While several US prisoners remain in custody, Afghan officials say the release of the last Afghan inmate at Guantánamo Bay rests with the US and should be part of any further deal.
The Guantánamo inmate’s case and the whereabouts of a US citizen in Afghan custody remain a central flashpoint between the Trump administration, which accuses Afghanistan of hostage diplomacy, and a Taliban government that denies those accusations while it seeks recognition from the US.
“We want these two American detainees to be released, and, at the same time, the fate of our detainee who is in Guantánamo should be made clear,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said in an interview with The Times in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar — the first time Afghan officials are making their demand public. “Our prisoner should be released.”
The Afghan detainee, Muhammad Rahim, is accused of acting as a courier and interpreter for Osama Bin Laden within Al Qaeda.
Why the Taliban have decided to comment publicly on a potential prisoner swap is unclear. But it signals an impasse in negotiations with the Trump administration, which has publicly demanded the release of at least three Americans.
The Taliban say they have only two — identified by US officials as Dennis Walter Coyle, an academic held since last January, and Polynesis Jackson, a former US Army soldier whose reasons for being in the country remain murky.
Afghan officials say they do not know the whereabouts of a third US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, who the FBI says was arrested in Afghanistan in 2022 shortly after the CIA killed Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s leader, in Kabul.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said no American prisoner was being held for bargaining purposes. “We support finding a solution to this issue as soon as possible,” Muttaqi said in a subsequent interview with The Times in Kabul. “We never arrest someone to make deals with their country.”
Muttaqi added, “We want progress in all areas with the United States,” including the reopening of the US embassy in Kabul and strengthened security cooperation.
The US does not formally recognise the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate authority, but US envoys have travelled several times to Afghanistan over the past year to secure the release of American detainees. At least four have already been freed under the second Trump administration, according to the White House — none of them as part of prisoner swaps.
A participant in the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing release efforts, said the Trump administration would not consider any further public engagement until all remaining US citizens were freed.
The state department declined to discuss the case of Rahim, but the administration’s position was unequivocal.
“We know the Taliban abducted and detained Mahmood Habibi over three years ago,” a state department spokesperson said. “The Taliban should immediately release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi and all Americans detained in Afghanistan and end its practice of hostage diplomacy.”
The previous administration had offered Rahim in a prisoner swap that included Habibi, but the Taliban rejected that offer, American officials say.
A senior US official added that Rahim would not be part of any future deal despite the Taliban government’s demands.
New York Times News Service