Shanthie Mariet D’Souza
It was a quick and productive deal.
On March 20, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad dashed to Kabul and held talks with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister. This was the first visit by a high-ranking U.S. diplomat to the Afghan capital since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
The talks appear to have focused on the release of George Glezmann, an American citizen who had been detained in Afghanistan for more than two years. A day later, Glezmann was released, hurried into a plane to Doha, and then returned to the United States. Days later, the Trump administration returned the favor: It lifted $20 million in bounties on three prominent members of the Haqqani Network, including the Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Glezmann was the third American to be released by the Taliban this year.
Not long ago, in January 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had threatened Taliban leadership with a “very big” bounty over American hostages. It now appears that concessions, not intimidation, has helped achieve results.
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