The Taliban Say They’re Ready to Release U.S. Prisoners. But Which Ones?

Top Afghan officials say they want two American detainees released “as soon as possible,” but the Trump administration says a third one should be included.Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, in 2021. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he expressed the Taliban’s desire to secure the release of an Afghan inmate at Guantánamo Bay.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York TimesElian Peltier and Adam GoldmanElian Peltier interviewed the Afghan foreign minister in Kabul and the government’s spokesman in Kandahar — the two sites of power of the Taliban administration. Adam Goldman has spent more than a decade reporting on complex hostage cases around the globe.Jan. 26, 2026, 12:00 a.m. ETFor months, U.S. and Afghan officials have secretly negotiated the release of U.S. detainees — a priority for President Trump and a nonnegotiable prerequisite for any further diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.Yet even as at least five U.S. 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 U.S. prisoners remain in custody, Afghan officials say the release of the last Afghan inmate at Guantánamo Bay rests with the United States and should be part of any further deal.The Guantánamo inmate’s case and the whereabouts of a U.S. 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 United States.“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.ImageKabul in July.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe Taliban say they have only two — identified by U.S. officials as Dennis Walter Coyle, an academic held since last January, and Polynesis Jackson, a former U.S. Army soldier whose reasons for being in the country remain murky.Afghan officials say they do not know the whereabouts of a third U.S. citizen, Mahmood Habibi, who the F.B.I. says was arrested in Afghanistan in 2022 shortly after the C.I.A. 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,” Mr. Muttaqi said in a subsequent interview with The Times in Kabul. “We never arrest someone to make deals with their country.”Mr. Muttaqi added, “We want progress in all areas with the United States,” including the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Kabul and strengthened security cooperation.The United States does not formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate authority, but U.S. envoys have traveled 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.ImageA U.S. citizen, Amir Amiry, left, with U.S. and Qatari diplomats after he was released from custody in Afghanistan, in a photo provided by the Qatari government in September.Credit...Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA 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 U.S. citizens were freed.The State Department declined to discuss the case of Mr. 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 Mr. Rahim in a prisoner swap that included Mr. Habibi, but the Taliban rejected that offer, American officials say. Instead, the Taliban government freed Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty last January in exchange for Khan Mohammed, a convicted drug dealer who was released from a U.S. federal prison. The Taliban later freed three other Americans — George Glezmann and Faye Hall in March; and Amir Amiry in September.A senior U.S. official added that Mr. Rahim would not be part of any future deal despite the Taliban government’s demands.Mr. Habibi’s brother, Ahmad, said officials from the Trump administration had promised him that there would be no deal for Mr. Rahim, the Guantánamo prisoner, until Mr. Habibi was returned.“We have proof the Taliban’s G.D.I. arrested him, so they are only prolonging things by refusing to admit it,” Mr. Habibi said about the General Directorate of Intelligence, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.The Afghan intelligence services didn’t respond to requests for comment.ImageMahmood Habibi, right, and his brother, Ahmad Habibi, in Canada in 2014.Credit...Ahmad Habibi, via ReutersAn Afghan official with direct knowledge of the negotiations said that the Taliban had released U.S. detainees last year, and the United States had lifted bounties on senior Afghan officials, as part of a framework meant to settle the prisoners’ issue. But recent developments, including the deadly attack on two National Guard troops that U.S. officials say was committed by a 29-year-old Afghan man near the White House in November, had brought the negotiations to a stalemate.The Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity to comment on the negotiations, said the Taliban would be willing to discuss Mr. Habibi’s fate only after other U.S. detainees and Mr. Rahim had been released. Mr. Habibi was never part of the initial framework agreed upon last year, the official added, but Mr. Rahim was.The State Department lists Mr. Coyle, who is from Colorado, as a wrongful detainee, and his family has taken a more visible role in advocating for his release.The circumstances surrounding the detention of Mr. Jackson, like Mr. Habibi’s, are more opaque.On Tuesday, President Trump said in a television interview about Mr. Coyle’s detention by the Taliban, “I’m not happy about them holding anybody, especially if he’s not guilty of anything.”Mr. Rahim, the Afghan prisoner, has been held in Guantánamo since 2008 and is the last Afghan citizen there. The United States says Mr. Rahim, now 60, had advanced knowledge of Al Qaeda attacks. He was subjected to “extensive use of the C.I.A’s enhanced-interrogation techniques,” including sleep deprivation that once lasted nearly six days, according to the Senate Committee’s Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture.Mr. Rahim’s family says he did not do anything wrong and has asked the Taliban administration to secure his release.He has never been charged with crimes while held in Guantánamo Bay.Safiullah Padshah and Yaqoob Akbary contributed reporting.Elian Peltier is an international correspondent for The Times, covering Afghanistan and Pakistan.Adam Goldman is a London-based reporter for The Times who writes about global security.SKIP