US Offers $5 Million Reward for Information on Mahmood Shah Habibi
The US State Department has announced it will pay up to $5 million for information leading to the location, return and clarification of the fate of Mahmood Shah Habibi.
Mahmood Shah Habibi, the former head of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, is an Afghan-born US citizen who, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was detained near his home in Kabul in August 2022.
The FBI said Habibi was detained along with his driver and 29 employees of the “Asia Consultancy Group.” US officials say the others were released after some time, but there has been no contact with Habibi since his detention.
The US chargé d’affaires for Afghanistan wrote in Persian and Pashto on his X account on Tuesday, August 11, that four years have passed since Habibi disappeared. He stressed that the reward is for information that would help determine where he is being held, secure his recovery and facilitate his return.
He added: “There is no reason for this issue to remain unresolved, and the United States is ready to take the necessary steps.”
US officials have previously expressed concern about Mahmood Shah Habibi’s fate and called for information about his whereabouts. The Taliban administration has previously claimed that it did not detain Habibi and has no information about his fate or whereabouts.
Before the collapse of the republic in Afghanistan, Mahmood Shah Habibi headed the Civil Aviation Authority, an institution whose main responsibilities included regulating the country’s civil aviation affairs and civilian airports.
