Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan a state sponsor of wrongful detention after he said it “unjustly” detained several U.S. citizens.
The designation makes Afghanistan the second country to fall under the designation, created by an executive order from President Donald Trump in September.
“Today, I am designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. The Taliban continue to use terrorist tactics to seek policy concessions, but it won’t work under this administration. The Taliban must release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan,” Rubio said.
Iran became the first country added to the blacklist last week. It operates similarly to the state sponsor of terrorism designation, carrying additional penalties.
Rubio said it was “not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals.”
The designation reflects the Trump administration’s hard-line stance taken against Afghanistan, which has clashed with the United Nations’s urging for humanitarian assistance. Also on Monday, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz urged a reevaluation of aid given to Afghanistan, given the abuses by the Taliban.
“In light of the Taliban’s intransigence, we must carefully evaluate the utility of international assistance and engagement in Afghanistan,” Waltz said, though ceded that a “humanitarian disaster” was unfolding there.
HUNTER BIDEN CALLS AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL AN ‘OBVIOUS F***ING FAILURE’
“This council must consider carefully the funds we collectively provide for this mission’s budget, when the mission’s female national staff are not even able to go into the office to work,” he added.
Afghanistan has faced disaster since the Taliban retook control over the country in August 2021, with international isolation and mismanagement rife. Roughly one-third of the population, 17 million people, face acute food shortages, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
