This action took place slightly more than a week after Iran was listed as the first nation on Washington’s newly created “wrongful detention” blacklist.
US Senator Marco Rubio announced on Monday that he had designated Afghanistan a “wrongful detention country,” demanding that Taliban officials release two Americans and pledge to end their “hostage diplomacy.”
The move comes just a week after Iran became the first country to be added to Washington’s new “wrongful detention” blacklist.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September creating the blacklist, which is similar to the United States’ designation on terrorism.
Rubio said in a statement, “The Taliban continue to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping people for ransom or seeking policy exemptions.”
He added that “it is not safe for Americans to visit Afghanistan because the Taliban wrongfully detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals.”
He said, “The Taliban must now release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all Americans wrongfully detained in Afghanistan and pledge to end hostage diplomacy once and for all.”
Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman, previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.
According to US officials, he was arrested in Kabul in August 2022 along with dozens of other employees of his telecommunications company.
The State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Habibi’s return.
According to the James Foley Foundation, Coyle is a Colorado academic who worked in Afghanistan for two decades before being detained in January 2025.