Taliban Tie US Detainees to Guantánamo Release in High-Stakes Prisoner Diplomacy
DID Press: Attention has centered on a small set of names that have become the decisive bottleneck in negotiations between Kabul and Washington. The Taliban have made the release of Mohammad Rahim Al Afghani—described as the last Afghan detainee at Guantánamo Bay detention camp—a core condition for freeing other U.S. nationals. For Kabul, bringing Rahim home would be a symbolic victory signaling the closure of the Guantánamo file. For Washington, however, this is a hard security red line: Rahim is accused of close ties to al-Qaeda and to Osama bin Laden. Any release would carry steep political costs and risk being framed domestically as capitulation to terrorism.
Over recent months, relations between Kabul and Washington have drifted into what diplomats describe as brinkmanship. What is unfolding goes beyond legal disputes and resembles strategic gambling, with detainees serving as leverage over recognition and sanctions relief. The Taliban portray U.S. detentions as lawful enforcement; Washington counters that Kabul is practicing “hostage diplomacy” to extract political concessions.
The current impasse follows earlier swaps mediated by Qatar, which secured the release of U.S. citizens including Ryan Corbett and George Glezmann, followed by Amir Amiri. In return, Taliban-linked prisoners were freed from U.S. custody, among them Khan Mohammed, who had been serving a life sentence on narcotics charges. At the time, the exchange formula appeared workable; today, the remaining cases are far more politically toxic.
Washington insists that, beyond the fate of Dennis Walter Coyle and Polinesis Jackson, Kabul must clarify the status of Mahmoud Shah Habibi, whom U.S. officials say is in Taliban custody—an assertion Kabul denies. The dispute has deepened mistrust, with U.S. officials warning that no concessions will be offered on sensitive security files until Habibi’s case is resolved and other detainees are returned.
U.S. rhetoric has hardened. Acting U.S. envoy Don Brown publicly criticized Taliban treatment of detainees, signaling dwindling patience in Washington. Parallel pressure has come through the United Nations Security Council, where sanctions have been extended. Senior policymakers, including Marco Rubio, have warned that using U.S. nationals as bargaining chips will trigger severe consequences.
At bottom, the standoff reflects a strategic mismatch. The Taliban calculate that holding figures like Coyle and Habibi can force recognition and sanctions relief. Washington now argues that rewarding such tactics would only incentivize future detentions. The diplomacy of exchanges has thus reached a point where neither side wants to blink—leaving the remaining detainees to bear the costs of a high-stakes confrontation of wills.
By Sayed Baqer Waezi — DID Press Agency