Biden called families of 3 Americans held by Taliban to tell them he hasn't reached deal to free them

In a roughly 30-minute phone call Sunday afternoon, President Biden delivered difficult news to the families of three Americans held by the Taliban. He did not have a deal with the Taliban to free their loved ones from captivity, despite what U.S. officials described to CBS News as a significant offer the U.S. had extended in Doha days earlier. The U.S. considers Ryan Corbett and George Glezmann to be wrongfully detained by the Taliban, and describes Mahmood Habibi, who holds dual American and Afghan citizenship, as "unjustly held" since 2022. 

Ahmad Shah Habibi, the brother of Mahmood Habibi, told CBS News that during the conversation, Mr. Biden clarified that he would not agree to the Taliban's demand that the U.S. release Muhammed Rahim al Afghani, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, unless the Taliban, now the government of Afghanistan, also releases Mahmood. An NSC spokesman declined to respond to a CBS inquiry about that specific claim.

Mahmood Habibi disappeared in Afghanistan in 2022, and the Taliban denied abducting him. In a public notice posted by the FBI in August 2024, the agency said it "believed" that Habibi was taken by Taliban military or security forces and "has not been heard from since his disappearance." The FBI said in its notice that Habibi was working as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecom company when he disappeared.