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NEW: Marco Rubio Takes Aggressive Stance Against Taliban Leaders In Major Policy Shift

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday threatened to place bounties on the heads of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, marking an aggressive shift in U.S. posture in the region after the federal government determined that more Americans are being detained in Afghanistan than previously believed.

The threat comes two days after the Taliban-controlled Afghan government and the United States swapped prisoners during one of the final acts of the Biden Administration. Rubio — who became the first Trump cabinet nominee to be sworn in earlier this week — announced the major strategic shift in a pointed social media post.

“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio posted on X. “If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on bin Laden,” he added.

Rubio did not offer specifics as to who the detained Americans are or exactly how many of them are currently being held by the islamist government, though reports have long maintained that Americans are being held captive in cases that have not been taken up by the U.S. State Department in the past. The Biden Administration reported that at least three Americans were being held in Taliban custody as of last month, two of whom were freed in the recent prisoner exchange.

In the deal with the Biden administration, the Taliban freed Ryan Corbett, a U.S. aid worker who had been living in the country for more than a decade. Corbett was taken into custody following U.S. airstrikes that killed senior Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022. Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. freed Khan Mohammed, who was serving a life sentence for trafficking heroin and opium into the United States. He was also accused of seeking rockets to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Photo: Gage Skidmore

The new policy shift follows in-line with a number of tough stances taken by the Trump Administration against U.S. adversaries during Trump’s first term in the White House. While Trump has opposed foreign wars and U.S.-led interventions, he has engaged in threatening rhetoric towards U.S. enemies and shown that he is not opposed to taking drastic measures in the past.

This includes the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Passim Soleimani in 2020, threatening North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un with nuclear retaliation and strikes against Wagner Group mercenaries in Syria.

As for the Taliban, Trump opted to engage in negotiations with the militant group while plans for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan were being made. During a peace agreement hatched at Camp David, Trump discussed the withdrawal of U.S. military assets and an end to the nation’s longest war, which raged for more than 20 years.

During President Biden’s hasty implementation of the agreement, the U.S.-backed government quickly fell in a matter of days. This led to chaos at the Kabul International Airport, where tens of thousands of Afghans attempted to flee the country. The spotty security situation ultimately led to the Abbey Gate bombing, which killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghan civilians.

The Biden Administration maintained low level contacts with Afghanistan’s islamist government but were unable to make much progress. The former president faced criticism over humanitarian aid authorized for the Taliban, which was ultimately discontinued by the Trump Administration earlier this week. The Taliban government has yet to receive any international recognition.

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