After the Taliban returned the wrongfully detained American Amir Amiry to the United States on Sept. 28, news of further prisoner trades has percolated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Amiry’s release was “an important step forward” to getting freedom for “additional Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.” At the time of Amiry’s release, a U.S. official told the New York Times that there were three Americans in Taliban custody.
The most widely known detainee is Mahmood Habibi, whom the Taliban continue to claim is not in their custody. The claim is easily refuted, including by witnesses who saw Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence members arrest Habibi in August 2022, by witnesses who have seen Habibi at GDI headquarters, and by technical evidence that Habibi’s phone was turned on inside GDI headquarters as recently as August 2023.
MANCHESTER ATTACK UNDERLINES EUROPE’S ANTISEMITIC TERRORISM CHALLENGE
Journalist Sami Yousafzai said the Taliban have named only two Americans in their custody: Polynesis Idren and Dennis Walter Koyle.
The New York Times echoed Yousafzai’s list on Sept. 30, referring to Idren as “Polynesis Jackson” and citing the circumstances of his detention as “murky.” A source close to the negotiations told the Washington Examiner that Jackson may have traveled to Afghanistan with nefarious intent. The State Department has not responded to questions about the circumstances of Jackson’s detention, and he is not listed among the Americans considered wrongfully detained in Afghanistan in congressional reports from June 2025.
Only a small amount of information about Jackson is available online. According to a LinkedIn profile, Jackson served in the U.S. Army in air and missile defense between 2007 and 2011. He appears to have held a career as an MMA fighter prior to his military service and went to the LA Film School, graduating in 2012.
Coyle has been designated as wrongfully detained. The circumstances of his detention are not publicized, but Coyle appears to have deep knowledge of Afghanistan, writing his Master’s thesis on the intricacies of the Pashto language in 2014. In exchange for Americans held in their prisons, the Taliban want the return of several of their own prisoners held by the U.S. This may include narcotrafficker Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf, who was sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. prison last December.
The Taliban will almost certainly ask for the return of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Muhammad Rahim, an al Qaeda facilitator. As of September, the New York Times reported Rahim was considered “held in indefinite law-of-war detention and not recommended for transfer.” James Connell, Rahim’s lawyer, told the Washington Examiner that “Rahim has been imprisoned under harsh conditions for seventeen years without charges. If there were any credible evidence against Rahim, he would have been charged long ago.”
Though Yousafzai stated on X that the Taliban had “broken the CIA’s position” about the release of Rahim, no information about his possible release has been made available. Amid uncertainty about whether a future exchange will be made, the family of Habibi, including his wife, parents, daughter, and brother, is adamant that the U.S. should not release Rahim to the Taliban without the return of Mahmood. In the event that Habibi is no longer alive, they seek the return of his remains so that they can have closure about his fate.
TRUMP’S AMBITIOUS GAZA PEACE PLAN IS FRAUGHT WITH COMPLEXITY
The Washington Examiner asked whether the State Department would be willing to do a trade for Jackson and Coyle that does not include the return of Habibi, either his living person or his testable remains. A State Department spokesperson said that “the administration is committed to securing the release of all U.S. nationals detained in Afghanistan, including Mahmood Habibi.”
Eric Lebson, an adviser to the Habibi family and former U.S. national security official, said, “Any deal that includes Rahim and does not include either Habibi or his remains is absolutely unacceptable to the Habibi family.” He also noted, “The Biden Administration did little for the Habibi family, but the Trump White House has reassured Mahmood’s family that Habibi will not be left behind, and that any deal will include a resolution of Habibi’s case.”
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the host of The Afghanistan Project.