The U.S. may announce a "huge" reward for Taliban leaders, according to the Secretary of State.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggests announcing a "very large reward" for the "heads" of the leaders of the radical Islamist movement, the Taliban.

This is reported by Reuters.

"We have heard rumors that the Taliban are holding more American hostages than previously reported. If this is true, we will have to immediately set a very large reward for their leaders, possibly even greater than that for bin Laden," Rubio wrote on X.

The statement comes amid reports of the release of two Americans held by the Taliban. According to media reports, one of them was Ryan Corbett, who has been imprisoned since 2022. The name of the second released American is William McKenty.

Last week, the Afghan authorities confirmed that the release was made possible through a swap for Khan Mohammad – an Afghan sentenced in the U.S. on drug trafficking and extremism charges.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that the Taliban will participate in the UN climate conference (COP29) – the first time since seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021. A technical delegation from the National Environmental Protection Agency has already departed for Baku, where the event will take place.