Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid says Mahmoud Shah Habibi was not detained by the Taliban and that the group has no information about his whereabouts or fate.
Mujahid made the remarks following renewed calls by the U.S. Mission for Afghanistan, saying that if Habibi were in Taliban custody, the matter of his disappearance would have been resolved by now.
He said: “We have no information about Mahmoud Shah Habibi. He was not detained by the Taliban. If he were with us, this issue would have been resolved long ago.”
The remarks come as the U.S. Mission for Afghanistan said four years have passed since Habibi’s disappearance, but Washington remains committed to locating him, securing his release, and bringing him home.
The U.S. side has also offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Habibi’s whereabouts and return.
The Taliban have repeatedly denied previous allegations that they detained Mahmoud Shah Habibi, insisting that he is not being held in their custody.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), marking the fourth anniversary of Habibi’s disappearance, said that he was pulled from his vehicle in Kabul on August 10, 2022.
According to the FBI, the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence detained Habibi along with his driver and 29 other employees of the Kabul-based telecommunications company “Asia Consultancy Group.”
No reliable information has so far been made public regarding Mahmoud Shah Habibi’s fate, and no organization or group has officially claimed responsibility for his disappearance.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
