[ISLAMABAD] The FBI’s Washington Field Office on August 10 renewed its public appeal for information on the whereabouts of Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American and former head of Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) who has been missing since Taliban intelligence officers detained him in Kabul four years ago to the day.
“The FBI remains committed to bringing Mahmood home to his loved ones, including his daughter who hasn’t seen her father since before her first birthday,” said Michael Burgwald, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division. “If you have information about his whereabouts, please contact the FBI. Help us finish this investigation. Help us reunite this family.”
According to the FBI, on August 10, 2022, the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence took Habibi and his driver from Habibi’s vehicle and detained them along with 29 other Asia Consultancy Group employees.
Habibi has not been heard from since his arrest, and the Taliban has not provided information about his condition or location.
In 2025, the FBI’s Washington Field Office issued a poster seeking information about Habibi’s disappearance as part of the investigation into his case. The US State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could help determine Habibi’s whereabouts, secure his recovery and facilitate his return. The reward is still listed as active.
Now, in August 2026, US authorities have once again appealed for information concerning the case.
At the time of his arrest, there was a strong perception within Taliban circles that Habibi had played a role in the US drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, a Kabul-based source familiar with Taliban and al-Qaida thinking told The Media Line.
The source, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said both Taliban and al-Qaida leaders believe Habibi helped locate al-Zawahiri and claimed that he was later handed over to senior al-Qaida figures Saif al-Adl and Abd al-Rehman al-Maghrebi, who are based in Kandahar and have direct links to Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. This account could not be independently verified.
In a statement marking the anniversary of Habibi’s detention, Global Reach, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates for Americans it says are wrongfully detained abroad, disputed any suggestion that he was involved in the operation that killed al-Zawahiri. The group said Habibi was in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the strike and added that the CIA used cameras mounted on telecommunications towers belonging to Asia Consultancy Group as part of the Zawahiri operation.
The FBI, in its latest statement, did not link Habibi’s detention to the operation that killed al-Zawahiri. The case has continued to draw attention from senior US officials. In February 2026, Sebastian Gorka, a senior White House counterterrorism official, said President Trump had made clear that the Taliban “must cease their hostage-taking,” naming Habibi and American contractor Dennis Coyle among the detainees Washington is seeking to have returned. Coyle was released on March 24, 2026.
In March 2026, the United States designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” accusing the Taliban of using detainees as leverage to seek policy concessions from the US. The United States does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government and has no formal diplomatic presence in the country, complicating efforts to engage directly with the Taliban authorities.
