Family of Afghan American held by Taliban pleads for release: ‘He’s done nothing wrong’

Amna Nawaz:

Now to another story of an American held abroad unjustly.

In an exclusive interview, I recently sat down with the family of an Afghan American businessman who has been held for more than a year in the land of his birth.

Mahmood Habibi's family has decided to go public now, in the hopes that the Taliban will release him.

Amna Nawaz:

For the last year, Ahmad Habibi has prayed his family will be together. Many were able to leave Afghanistan over the last decade, but one is left behind, his brother Mahmood.

Ahmad Habib, Brother of Mahmood Habibi: We are very close. Yes, he's youngest, younger than me, like two years. So we are like best friends.

Amna Nawaz:

In August of 2022,Ahmad says his brother was taken by the Taliban in Kabul and has been held ever since.

Zulhija Habibi, Wife of Mahmood Habibi: It's been a year that he has been detained, but we have no information about him.

Amna Nawaz:

Mahmood's wife, Zulhija, made it to the U.S. with their daughter, Corin (ph). She's asked we don't show her face for cultural and security reasons.

Zulhija Habibi:

This is me. I was doing the surgery.

Amna Nawaz:

A former doctor in Kabul, she's now studying to restart her career in America…

Zulhija Habibi:

I would love to work in the U.S. to help the people.

Amna Nawaz:

… but without her husband's income is totally dependent on family.

Zulhija Habibi:

And we have not heard a word from him or a word about him. I can't study because of the stress.

Amna Nawaz:

She was in Qatar at a temporary U.S. military base for Afghan evacuees when she learned of his detention.

When was this taken?

Zulhija Habibi:

When we were in Qatar in a military base. He was trying to work.

She doesn't want…

(Crosstalk)

Amna Nawaz:

Some of their last moments together, months before Mahmood returned to Kabul for work and disappeared.

Ahmad Habibi:

He could live anywhere, but he preferred to live there, to work for his country and to work for the future of Afghanistan.

Amna Nawaz:

A civil aviation expert, Mahmood Habibi was an engineering wunderkind. He worked with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, and later became head of Afghanistan's Civil Aviation Authority.

His job with the U.S. granted him a Special Immigrant Visa, which led to a green card in 2014 and U.S. citizenship in September of 2021, just weeks after the Taliban takeover. He was a consultant at the time with ARX Communications, an American company operating infrastructure for Afghanistan's airports.

His work often took him back to Kabul.

Ahmad Habibi:

When the Taliban came, everybody from the family, they suggested that should leave Afghanistan. But he said that he is not a political person.

Also, when the Taliban announced that they will come, the officials from the previous government, then he was confident then that he can work there and he's safe.

Amna Nawaz:

Did you ever tell Mahmood, I don't want you to go back, I'm worried about you?

Ahmad Habibi:

I did tell Mahmood. But he always wanted to go back. And he said that: "If I leave, and, like, other people like me leave Afghanistan, then who will build Afghanistan?"

Amna Nawaz:

But his loyalty came at a cost. On August 10 of last year, Mahmood was arrested by Taliban officials outside his home.

Ahmad Habibi:

His driver was sitting next to him. And the driver was also detained. Then they released him. And my sister was at home, and they told my sister, they're Taliban and they are — they want to search the home. And they searched the home.

And they took some paperwork and his laptop. At the same time, 30 other employees were also detained from the company that he works for. I realized that it might be something about the company that he works.

Amna Nawaz:

Just days earlier, a CIA drone struck this apartment complex in the heart of Kabul and killed one of the world's most wanted, notorious terrorists, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He succeeded Osama bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaida and was a force behind many of the group's terror attacks, including 9/11.

Do you think that had anything to do with his arrest and detention?

Ahmad Habibi:

When we spoke to the employees, and they said that the Taliban asked them about the strike, the strike on Zawahiri.

So we have a little sense that the company — or the arrests might have to do something with the Zawahiri strike?

Amna Nawaz:

You think that's what the Taliban believe?

Ahmad Habibi:

We think that that's what the Taliban believes, yes.

Amna Nawaz:

In response to questions from the "NewsHour," ARX Communications said — quote — "ARX was not, nor any subsidiary, involved with any strike on also al-Zawahiri."

They confirm 31 of their personnel, including Mahmood, "were detained in August of 2022 and 29 have been subsequently released. Mr. Habibi and a direct employee are still being detained." They add: "We do not know why they are being held or by whom."

A recent U.S. delegation led by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West met with Taliban leadership in Doha last month, and — quote — "pressed for the immediate and unconditional release of detained U.S. citizens."

Mahmood's family has met with senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

U.S. officials tell the "NewsHour" they cannot comment directly on any details of the case. To date, the Taliban have not confirmed Mahmood's detention.

Ahmad Habibi:

I have been talking to the U.S. government, and they are — they are supporting us. But, sadly, we have not updates from the Taliban side.

Amna Nawaz:

You believe your brother could be held as a bargaining chip?

Ahmad Habibi:

We think so, because, if the Talibans, they are not acknowledging so far, they might use him to bargain with the U.S. government.

Amna Nawaz:

It's been a year now. And there's been no update and there's no confirmation that anyone has him. I have to ask a difficult question, which is, how can you be sure that he is still alive?

Ahmad Habibi:

Well, I think he's alive because he was detained by a government and he was innocent. But even if somebody is guilty, the government has a system. They have court system. They want the world to recognize them as a legitimate government.

So I'm sure that they will not do such thing.

Amna Nawaz:

Their father, Ahmadullah, shared pictures of his son through the years.

I asked him what he thinks about when he sees them.

Ahmadullah Habibi, Father of Mahmood Habibi (interpreter): What I think about, what I think to myself is that he's done nothing wrong. He's done nothing to end up in jail. He's never done anything like that in his life.

Amna Nawaz:

Zulhija says, when she looks at her daughter, she sees her husband.

Zulhija Habibi:

Her eyes, her mouth, it's just like her father.

Amna Nawaz:

Corin is almost 2, not quite old enough to understand what's happening. Still, she's learned to keep him in her prayers.

She copies you.

Zulhija Habibi:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

She's listening to you pray for him.

Zulhija Habibi:

Yes, she's so innocent. And she doesn't know about these things. But, still, she's praying for her father.

It's been a year that I have been recording her just for him that, when would be back, he can see all the time when he was not with her.

Amna Nawaz:

You can show him the videos to show what you missed.

Zulhija Habibi:

Yes. We were happy. We were a small, happy family.

Amna Nawaz:

For a year, the family stayed silent, hoping for a resolution.

Why are you deciding to speak out now?

Ahmad Habibi:

I want the people to hear the story of Mahmood, and I want the leadership of the Taliban to hear us. And I want to tell them that he's innocent and just to release him.

Amna Nawaz:

Until then, the family says they will wait and hope for the day they can all be together again.