Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US special envoy for Afghanistan, met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

“Adam Boehler, referring to the issue of detained citizens between Afghanistan and the United States, said that both countries will exchange prisoners,” Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar’s office said after the meeting. There was no immediate statement from Washington regarding the talks, and Khalilzad did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

According to US officials, the highest-profile American detainee is Mahmood Habibi, a naturalised US citizen and businessman who previously worked for a telecommunications company in Kabul. The US has offered a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts, while Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.

The Taliban has reportedly pressed for the release of Muhammad Rahim, the last Afghan national held at Guantanamo Bay, who has been detained without charge since 2008. Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed in March after more than two years in Taliban custody during a visit to Kabul by Boehler. That deal, mediated by Qatar, was described by the Taliban as a “humanitarian” gesture and a “sign of goodwill.”

Earlier, in January 2025, the two sides conducted a prisoner exchange in which US citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were released in exchange for Khan Mohammad, an Afghan national serving two life sentences in the United States. Both sides also agreed to continue discussions regarding nationals held in each other’s countries, the Taliban statement added.

The Taliban administration, which seized power in 2021 after 20 years of US military intervention in Afghanistan, remains unrecognised by Washington. (Aljazeera)