US May Place Record-High Bounty on Taliban Leaders, Exceeding Bin Laden Reward

With Donald Trump assuming the presidency, tensions between the United States and the Taliban have flared up once again. A new crisis over hostages has led to heightened friction between the two sides. The newly appointed US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has issued a stern warning to the Taliban, stating that the United States may place a bounty on senior Taliban leaders that could exceed the reward once offered for Osama bin Laden. The amount is expected to surpass ₹2 billion in Indian currency.

In a tweet on Sunday, Rubio shared the news, saying, “It has recently come to light that the Taliban may be holding far more Americans hostage than previously reported. If this is true, we must immediately place a significant bounty on their top leaders, possibly even larger than the one placed on Bin Laden.”

While Rubio did not provide specifics regarding the number of hostages, reports last week indicated that Kabul had facilitated the exchange of two detained American citizens in Afghanistan for an Afghan national imprisoned in the US. The Afghan national had been convicted on charges of drug trafficking and extremism by an American court.

This development comes in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 after a 20-year conflict, which ended with the Taliban seizing control of Kabul.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor revealed on Thursday that arrest warrants have been requested against two Taliban leaders, including Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. The charges against them include the systematic persecution of women and girls.