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The U.S. State Department connected Monday (March 9, 2026) designated Afghanistan arsenic a sponsor of wrongful detention arsenic the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations separately called retired the state for engaging successful what helium said was “hostage diplomacy.”
With the designation, Afghanistan joins Iran arsenic countries singled retired by the U.S. successful the past 2 weeks for their signifier of detaining Americans successful hopes of extracting argumentation concessions. Iran was fixed an identical designation connected Feb. 27, 1 time earlier the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against the Islamic Republic successful what has since go a warfare successful the Middle East.
Read: Israel-Iran warfare LIVE updates
The designations are designed to ramp up unit connected some nations to halt taking Americans hostage oregon hazard penalties.
“The Taliban continues to usage violent tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom oregon to question argumentation concessions. These despicable tactics request to end,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said successful a statement. “It is not harmless for Americans to question to Afghanistan due to the fact that the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our chap Americans and different overseas nationals.”
Mr. Rubio called connected the Taliban to merchandise Americans believed to beryllium successful its custody, including Dennis Coyle, an world researcher detained successful the state since January 2025, and Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked arsenic a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications institution and vanished successful 2022. The FBI and Habibi’s household person said they judge Habibi was taken by Taliban forces, but the Taliban has denied holding him.
Eric Lebson, a erstwhile National Security Council authoritative who serves arsenic main strategy serviceman astatine Global Reach, a nonprofit that is moving connected the cases of Habibi and different detained Americans, praised the designation arsenic a “clear connection from the Trump medication to the Taliban that they clasp the keys to resolving 4 cases of Americans who were arrested successful their state and thing volition determination guardant successful the U.S./Afghanistan narration until that happens.”
Also connected Monday (March 9, 2026), Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., accused Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders of engaging successful “hostage diplomacy,” pointing to guiltless Americans being detained. He besides questioned the $1 cardinal successful humanitarian assistance being sought for the state erstwhile its leaders contradict Afghan women their basal rights.
Mr. Waltz told a U.N. Security Council gathering that the Taliban’s actions “demonstrate atrocious faith” and person made the U.S. “deeply skeptical of their willingness to conscionable their planetary commitments oregon respect Afghanistan’s planetary obligations.”
He said this interest applies to the Doha bid woody that President Donald Trump signed with the Taliban successful February 2020, which led to the U.S. unit withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban takeover of the country, and its harsh crackdown connected the rights of women.
“While the United States continues to enactment successful the (Doha) process and its moving groups, we uncertainty the Taliban’s motives,” Waltz said. “We cannot physique assurance with a radical that continues to detain guiltless Americans and ignores the basal needs of the Afghan people.”
