On Aug. 10, 2022, American citizen Mahmood Habibi was arrested by the Taliban with 30 of his fellow Asia Consultancy Group employees. Despite both the Biden and Trump administrations obtaining the release of numerous Americans held by the Taliban over the past year, Habibi remains in Taliban custody, as do additional U.S. citizens, according to the State Department.

Obtaining Habibi’s release has been difficult because the Taliban have steadfastly claimed that they do not hold him in custody. Nearing the third anniversary of his capture, his brother, Ahmad Shah Habibi, has come forward to share details that confirm the Taliban have held him.

Ahmad Habibi provided multiple witness statements to the Washington Examiner that describe an arrest that took place in view of many residents in a busy Kabul neighborhood. Nearly half a dozen Taliban vehicles were reportedly parked outside the 10-story building where Mahmood Habibi lived when Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence members entered to arrest him. Multiple people also witnessed him blindfolded in the backseat of his personal vehicle, which was later driven away by a Taliban member. According to multiple witnesses, his apartment door was also broken in, and his items were ransacked. When GDI personnel emerged, they held his laptop and other personal effects.

Ahmad Habibi also provided a statement from a witness held at GDI headquarters who reported that he heard GDI personnel in a cell next door to his own interrogating his brother. According to a source familiar with the case, others who were held with Mahmood Habibi reported seeing him at GDI headquarters. Ahmad Habibi also described receiving a letter from the Taliban Minister of Communications dated two or three months........

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