The U.S. government is offering $5 million for information about the whereabouts of an Afghan-American businessman last seen in Afghanistan in 2022.
Mahmood Shah Habibi, who worked for a telecommunications company in Kabul at the time of his disappearance, is thought to have been taken into custody by the Taliban.
“We have determined he has been disappeared, and he has not been heard from,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday. “He was taken, and he has not been heard from since.”
According to the State Department, Habibi and his driver were taken from their vehicle near Habibi’s home in Kabul City on Aug. 10, 2022, but the Taliban has not provided any updates about his location or condition. His family has spent the past two years publicly pleading for information about his disappearance.
“We initially kept it quiet and worked with the State Department in the hope that the Taliban would realize that my brother’s arrest was a mistake,” Habibi’s older brother wrote in an op-ed The Hill published last year. “But here we are, and another year has passed and my brother is still not home.”
The U.S. military pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 2021 in a deal with the Taliban that ultimately led to the Islamic militant group gaining full control of the country.
The Taliban has not verified that it has Habibi in its custody.
“We know diplomats have met with the Taliban and asked them to move beyond these inexplicable protestations that they do not have him,” his brother wrote last August. “If the Taliban will not acknowledge him, we hope that there are people who value human life who will come forward and share what they know.”
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program‘s $5 million offer for information leading to Habibi’s location, recovery, and safe return is aimed at spurring new leads, Bruce said.
People with information that may be helpful are encouraged to contact the State Department via Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp or the department’s web tipline.