World
Rubio demands answers with 2 more Americans reportedly held by Taliban
In the final hours of his term, President Joe Biden negotiated a prisoner exchange with the Taliban that released U.S. citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty from Taliban custody.
Not included in the deal, however, were U.S. citizens George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that he was “just hearing” of the detentions of additional Americans by the Taliban.
“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,” Rubio wrote.
2 AMERICANS RELEASED IN EXCHANGE FOR TALIBAN PRISONER
Dennis Fitzpatrick, who is coordinating efforts outside the U.S. government for Glezmann’s release, claimed Glezmann was “never a serious priority for the Biden White House.”
“President Biden and [former National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan decided to leave George Glezmann in Kabul for no good reason,” Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital. “We are confident that President Trump’s clear-eyed leadership will secure George’s release to his family.”
Two U.S. citizens, George Glezmann, left, and Mahmood Habibi, were not included in the recent Biden administration deal that freed two other Americans from the Taliban. (James Foley Foundation/Getty Images)
Fitzpatrick added that 66-year-old Glezmann is “a totally innocent man” who was “a hard-working, blue-collar airline mechanic before he was wrongfully detained. He doesn’t deserve to be used as a pawn.”
Glezmann has been in detention since Dec. 5, 2022, when he was traveling to Afghanistan to “explore the cultural landscape and rich history of the country” according to a Senate resolution from July 2024 calling for his immediate release.
The resolution states that Glezmann’s mental and physical condition were deteriorating as a result of his detention in a nine-foot square underground cell. He has only been allowed limited calls to family and has experienced “facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition, and other medical conditions” as a result of his detention.
Former President Joe Biden at the White House (Anna Moneymaker)
While the Taliban admit to holding Glezmann in custody, they insist they do not hold Mahmood Habibi.
TALIBAN DISMISS DISCRIMINATION ACCUSATIONS AS ‘ABSURD’ DESPITE BANNING WOMEN FROM THE PUBLIC IN AFGHANISTAN
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus Tuesday, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Habibi’s brother Ahmad told Fox News Digital the family “know[s] that my brother is still in Taliban custody. I can’t share too much about that because we don’t want to put him or others at risk. But anyone accepting the Taliban’s hollow suggestions that they do not have him is falling for their lies.
“We have multiple witnesses to his arrest by the [General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI)]. We have multiple witnesses who were held with him at GDI headquarters. The Taliban has always claimed they don’t have him and don’t know who he is. How do they explain the obvious contradictions to this?”
Ahmad also claimed the family “know[s] that the U.S. government has technical evidence that Mahmood was in GDI custody long after his arrest.”
He alleges the Biden National Security Council “micromanaged the State Department’s effort to secure my brother’s release” and “blocked [the State Department] from using the data in their discussions with the Taliban, even though we told them that it would have directly confronted the Taliban’s claims that they never heard of my brother.”
TOP GENERAL IN FIGHT AGAINST THE TALIBAN SAYS AFGHANISTAN HAS ONCE AGAIN BECOME A ‘CRUCIBLE OF TERRORISM’
Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for confirmation of Ahmad’s claims.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Taliban spokespersons Zabihullah Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen about Habibi’s detention and asked Mujahid what happened to Habibi after he was arrested by the GDI. Mujahid did not respond. Shaheen directed Fox News Digital to reach out to the GDI and claimed no knowledge of the situation.
The Taliban have long sought the release of Guantanamo Bay detainee and al Qaeda facilitator Muhammad Rahim in exchange for the Americans they admitted were in their prisons. Ahmad Habibi told CBS News President Biden assured him in a Jan. 12 phone call that the U.S. would not release Rahim unless the Taliban released Habibi.
Taliban fighters in Kabul, Afghanistan (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Former Principal Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Hugh Dugan told Fox News Digital the Trump administration could pursue multiple “lines of effort” to secure the release of Glezmann and Habibi.
Dugan said this could involve “outright rescue by the military” at one level or continued “subtle diplomacy in the background.”
Dugan said he recognized that “to say we’re doing everything we can … is not satisfying to a family member, frankly, or anybody, and they want to hear that you’re continuing to identify what might have eluded us all along, or that there’s a crack in the horizon that’s opening.
“And we need to realize that that might be another step in our path to recovery and a line of effort has to be amended to accommodate new realities at any given moment.”
Some Australians were in no mood to celebrate the country’s national day on Sunday because they had long seen it as a reminder of colonial oppression. A few protesters took that antipathy a step further — by vandalizing statues to British settlers and an English king.
The damage done in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra was a fresh sign that Australia Day, which commemorates when a British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbor to start a penal colony in the late 18th century, remains divisive.
Even as some Australians mark the holiday with barbecues and pool parties, critics note that it set in motion centuries of oppression of Indigenous people. Some prefer to call it Invasion Day or Survival Day, and they make their displeasure clear through protests or other actions.
In Sydney this week, a statue of Captain James Cook, who claimed part of the Australian continent for the British crown in 1770, was drenched in red paint. Its hand and nose were severed, too. The statue had been restored after facing a similar attack last year.
In Melbourne, a monument to John Batman, an explorer who settled the city on lands occupied by Aboriginal people, was toppled and destroyed early Saturday. Protesters in Melbourne also spray-painted the words “land back” on a memorial for Australian soldiers who died fighting in World War I.
And on Sunday in Canberra, the capital, there was graffiti on a statue of King George V. “The colony is falling,” someone had written on its base in red paint.
Australian officials condemned the vandalism.
“We should find it in our hearts and in our minds to respect differences of views but not let it turn ugly,” said Jacinta Allan, the state premier of Victoria, according to a report by the television station 9News.
Representatives for the police in the states of Victoria and New South Wales said on Sunday afternoon that there had been no arrests or charges in connection with the vandalism in Sydney and Melbourne. The police in Canberra did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
People have protested Australia Day for decades. Recent protests were bolstered by the global Black Lives Matter movement, in which people in the United States, Britain and elsewhere toppled statues they saw as symbols of racism and oppression.
Last year in Melbourne, a Captain Cook statue was sawed off at the ankles, and a monument to King George V was beheaded.
Many Australian officials are keenly aware of their country’s racist colonial past, and they’re not afraid to say so publicly. In one example, the City of Melbourne’s website has a section on “truth-telling” that talks about developing “a shared understanding of the impacts of colonization and dispossession on Aboriginal peoples.”
But merely acknowledging historical wrongs is not enough for some Indigenous activists. That was clear when King Charles III visited Australia last year.
“You are not our king,” a voice rang out shortly after Charles, who retains the ceremonial title of head of state in the former British colony, finished addressing Parliament. “Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us.”
The voice belonged to Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous senator and activist for Aboriginal rights. As security guards hustled her out of the chamber, she accused British colonizers of genocide and demanded that Britain enter into a treaty with Australia’s Indigenous population.
The king watched impassively from the stage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Sunday that an agreement has been reached with Hamas to release additional hostages starting this Thursday, while also allowing Palestinians to return to the northern part of the Gaza Strip beginning Monday morning.
Qatar helped mediate the agreement, which is expected to ease the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
“After firm and determined negotiations led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Hamas has backed down and will conduct an additional phase of hostage releases this coming Thursday,” Netanyahu’s office said. “As part of this phase, Israeli citizen Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger, and one additional hostage will be released.”
The statement also noted that three additional hostages will be released on Saturday as part of the agreement.
ISRAELI MILITARY CHIEF STEPS DOWN OVER OCTOBER 7 HAMAS MASSACRE: ‘WEIGHS ON ME EVERY DAY’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for the release of additional hostages and for Palestinians to return to the northern part of the Gaza Strip. (Getty Images)
Israel confirmed Hamas handed over a list that specified the condition of the hostages expected to be released in the first stage. Local media also reported the list specified the number of living and dead hostages, though names were not included.
Israeli officials claim most of the 26 remaining hostages are alive, which coincides with the list Hamas provided.
Netanyahu’s office also said Israel will allow Palestinians to return to the northern part of the Gaza Strip beginning Monday morning under the agreement with Hamas.
CEASEFIRE DISPUTES BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH THROW REGION INTO TURMOIL
Hamas is believed to be holding 26 hostages, as of Sunday. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo)
Netanyahu reiterated that Israel will not tolerate any violation of the agreement between the two parties, adding that he will continue to push for the return of all hostages, dead or alive.
Likewise, the White House released a statement on Sunday afternoon saying the arrangement between Israel and Lebanon will be monitored by the U.S. and will remain in effect until Feb. 18, 2025.
“The Government of Lebanon, the Government of Israel, and the Government of the United States will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023,” the statement read.
HAMAS RELEASES 4 FEMALE HOSTAGES AS PART OF ISRAEL CEASEFIRE
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on July 26. (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The agreement between Israel and Hamas comes after the former accused the latter of changing the order of hostages it had planned to release. As a result, Israeli forces blocked thousands of Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza.
Israeli forces also announced Friday that they would not withdraw from southern Lebanon as the ceasefire requires until the Lebanese government fully implements its own responsibilities. According to the agreement, both groups were expected to make withdrawals by Sunday.
“IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops,” the IDF wrote in a statement earlier Sunday.
BITTERSWEET REJOICING AS FIRST HOSTAGES RETURN TO ISRAEL AFTER 471 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY
President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate back in July. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The disputes came just after President Donald Trump called for Egypt and Jordan to accept refugees from Gaza to “clean out” the region.
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
Trump said he applauded Jordan for accepting Palestinian refugees but that he told the king: “I’d love for you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
A submarine cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea, the fourth case reported by the Nordic countries in the past two months. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasised, “The resilience and security of our infrastructure is a top priority.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reported that at least one undersea cable connecting Sweden and Latvia has been damaged. This incident follows similar cases reported in the past two months between Lithuania and Sweden, Germany and Finland, and Estonia and Finland.
“There is information suggesting that at least one data cable between Sweden and Latvia has been damaged in the Baltic Sea. The cable is owned by a Latvian entity. I have been in close contact with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina throughout the day,” Kristersson wrote on X.
On 14 January, from Helsinki, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the Alliance would launch a new mission in the Baltic with new ships and dedicated aviation and new supporting technology, including ‘a small fleet of undersea drones’, to protect critical infrastructure from sabotage.
von der Leyen: ‘Full solidarity with the countries bordering the Baltic Sea’
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed strong solidarity with the EU countries bordering the Baltic Sea following the damage to an undersea data cable between Sweden and Latvia. Von der Leyen emphasised the importance of securing critical infrastructure, stating, “The resilience and security of our critical infrastructure is a top priority.” She further reaffirmed the EU Commission’s commitment to enhancing detection, prevention, and repair efforts in collaboration with global partners.
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