United States’ relationship with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan is taking a new turn since Donald Trump signed his first executive orders. Experts are expecting some harsh decisions in the foreign policy of United States and anticipating the diverse response of other countries towards those specific announcements.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that America can put bounties on the heads of Afghan Taliban leaders as there is a chance that more Americans were reportedly detained in Afghanistan than previously thought.
This warning has come up when Taliban government released two American nationals just a day before Trump’s swearing-in ceremony as the result of ongoing negotiations with former US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The deal involved the release of two American citizens, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, by the Taliban in exchange for Khan Mohammed, a member of the Afghan Taliban being held by the US in a narcotics and terrorism case.
The new top US diplomat wrote on X (previously Twitter), “Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported. 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.”
According to officials, US offered a bounty of $25 million for information about Osama bin Laden in 2001, with Congress later authorizing the secretary of state to offer up to $50 million.
But the question at the moment is whether the US can put a bounty on Taliban leaders or not and what will be its effects in the region.
Prof. Dr. Christian Kaunert, Professor of International Security at Dublin City University, Ireland told Khabar Kada that it all depends on what exactly the US wants to do at this moment.
“The timing of this statement is very crucial. For Trump, China is becoming more and more important and we have to see on which leader US wants to put bounty money. There is a possibility that people who are working closer to China could be the target.”
This statement came at the time when the Iranian Foreign Minister was traveling to Kabul in his highest engagement with the Taliban to date. Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban’s relationship with Pakistan is also very tense due to large-scale attacks by Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“I don’t think that this decision will have immediate effects on Pakistan. But all the neighbors of Afghanistan are still assessing their relationship level with Taliban-led government. So, this could have an impact in a broader scenario,” said Kaunert.
Trump has also made statements about intending to bring back weapons left behind in Afghanistan when US troops withdrew from the country in 2021. Kabul had almost immediately fallen to the Taliban after the departure of the US forces.
However, the Taliban have flat out refused to return the weapons, instead saying they need more weapons to fight ISIS-K. On Thursday, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor also said that he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women.
