The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, threatened to offer a reward for the capture of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan greater than the one offered for Osama Bin Laden, the former leader of Al Qaeda. Rubio made this threat while citing unconfirmed information that the Taliban are holding more American citizens than previously known.
"I just heard that the Taliban have more American hostages than previously reported, if this is true, we will have to immediately offer a very large reward for their top leaders, maybe even greater than what we offered for Bin Laden," he stated on social media.
The U.S. offered $50 million for information leading to the capture of Bin Laden, who was ultimately killed in a U.S. military operation in 2011 in Pakistan.
Last Tuesday, following Donald Trump’s inauguration, it was revealed that his predecessor, Joe Biden, reached an agreement with the 'de facto' Afghan authorities for the release of two Americans in exchange for a Taliban leader. The news came after Americans Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were released in the exchange for Khan Mohammad, who was serving a life sentence in a California prison for terrorism and drug trafficking.
"At least two other American citizens, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi, remain detained in Afghanistan," Rubio added.
