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US Senator Marco Rubio has made a strong statement threatening to set high bounties on the heads of Taliban government leaders. This was a reaction to new data on the number of Americans who may be held hostage in Afghanistan.
“Just learned that the Taliban are holding more American hostages than has been officially reported,” Rubio wrote on Platform X. “If this is true, we should immediately put a VERY HIGH bounty on their heads, perhaps even higher than Osama bin Laden.”
A statement that changes the tone of the dialogue
These words came just a few days after the prisoner exchange between the US and Afghanistan that took place in the last days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Nevertheless, the information about the new American hostages is worrying.
Rubio did not provide specific details about the hostages, but his statement is in line with numerous rumours about missing Americans who are not officially recognised as hostages by the US government.
What is known about the exchange of prisoners?
This week, the Taliban government announced the release of two Americans:
- Ryan Corbett, retained since 2022.
- William McKenty, about whom there is almost no published information.
Instead, the United States handed over to Afghanistan Khan Mohammed, a prisoner since 2006, convicted of “drug terrorism”. He was serving a life sentence in California.
Historical parallels: Osama bin Laden
Rubio drew a parallel with the hunt for Osama bin Laden, for whom the United States once set a $25 million reward. Later, Congress increased the amount to $50 million. Bin Laden was killed in a raid by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011, but no one was officially rewarded.
