US censures Afghanistan over detained Americans, could ban US travel to the country

By Simon Lewis and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday censured Afghanistan over its detention of American citizens, a move that could lead to a ban on U.S. passport holders traveling to the country.

Rubio said in a statement he was designating Afghanistan’s Taliban government as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” demanding that Kabul release all U.S. citizens detained in the country, including Mahmood Habibi and Dennis Coyle. 

“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end,” he said, adding that he had concluded it was not safe for Americans to travel to the country because of the risk of being unjustly detained.

The U.S. is also seeking the return of the remains of Paul Overby, an author who was last seen close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan in 2014, two sources familiar with the situation said.

The sources said the U.S. could restrict the use of U.S. passports for travel to Afghanistan if it does not meet the U.S. demands. Such a passport restriction is currently only in place for North Korea.

Rubio on February 27 issued the same determination against Iran, the first country to be designated under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September. Rubio warned the U.S. could restrict travel to Iran over its detention of U.S. citizens, but has not imposed any restrictions. The U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran the day after the determination was announced.

Reuters was unable to reach the government in Afghanistan for comment.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has previously denied it detained Habibi, who was the head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation.

CBS News was the first to report on the U.S. considering designating Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention earlier on Monday.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)