A CIA drone strike, an arrest, and a Salinas Valley woman’s 3-year vigil to free husband from Afghanistan

Three years after Taliban agents arrested an Afghan-born American citizen and took him blindfolded into custody for interrogation his wife living in the Salinas Valley is hopeful they ll be reunited soon Zulhija Khan hasn t seen or heard from her husband Mahmood Habibi as she lives in the small farming society of Soledad with their daughter and her parents Now Khan and her family are waiting anxiously for any news about closely-guarded prisoner swap negotiations between U S functionaries and the Taliban governing body Last week Taliban bureaucrats disclosed that they had reached an agreement to agreement detainees CBS announced Mahmood Habibi with his daughter Hoorain in June at a U S air base in Qatar The family had fled Afghanistan Habibi returned to the country in Aug and was arrested by Taliban intelligence agents Photo courtesy Zulhija Khan Though U S leaders aren t commenting analysts and those with knowledge of the talks say they are certain to involve Habibi who d led Afghanistan s civil aviation ministry before the Taliban toppled the U S -backed establishment and ended the longest war in American history Though the Taliban denies ever arresting him U S agents are unequivocal that Habibi is in their custody We know that he is innocent and he would not do anything wrong which could bring his life or his family s life at jeopardy Khan disclosed at her home on Tuesday The U S cabinet should bring him back The detention of Habibi has strained the already-fraught relationship between the U S and the Taliban four years after its fighters retook Kabul in August The Taliban s unwillingness to release Mr Habibi has been a major obstacle to improving U S -Taliban relations disclosed Lisa Curtis a fellow at the Washington D C think tank Center for a New American Guard a former high-level national guard official in the first Trump administration and a former CIA senior analyst in Asia in the s The Trump administration will likely remain adamant that any concessions to the Taliban will hinge on whether Habibi is published Khan and Habibi s family commented the administration of President Donald Trump is pursuing his release more aggressively than his predecessor Joe Biden This year Trump administrators poised themselves to issue sanctions published a multi-million-dollar reward for information about Habibi and flew to Kabul for negotiations U S personnel have successfully freed three other American prisoners from Taliban custody since January Trump is very serious about freeing Habibi reported his brother Ahmad Habibi I am hopeful And I hope that Mahmood is part of that prisoner swap On Tuesday Khan was still waiting for any news of the negotiations the latest progress in a three-year saga of worry and sadness Obviously she s tremendously worried and very focused on trying to do the right thing and get him disclosed noted U S Rep Zoe Lofgren a San Jose Democrat The Congresswoman met with Khan and other members of Habibi s family and has taken efforts to highlight the matter in Washington Khan originally from Pakistan married Habibi in an arranged marriage and didn t get to know him before their wedding day in as is local custom Her eyes light up recalling how he made her laugh and cared for their family The couple settled into a happy life in Kabul Habibi worked for the U S embassy building out the nation s airports and aviation infrastructure and then he rose to the post of civil aviation minister She worked as a general physician Their lives veered off module when Taliban fighters captured Kabul Remaining there was risky for Habibi because of his association with the U S cabinet revealed Ahmad a former U S Army interpreter who now lives in New Jersey Like multiple from Afghanistan Habibi and Khan had planned to relocate to the U S together after the fall of Kabul By the following spring the family had fled and landed at a massive U S air base in Qatar then a major transit point for Afghan refugees Mahmood Habibi had already become a U S resident through the special visa undertaking and then a citizen He left behind Khan and their daughter to wait while bureaucrats processed their visas At that point he was employed by Asia Consultancy Group a branch of a Virginia-based telecommunications firm and he returned to Afghanistan to continue his work He arrived in early August But days earlier the U S had targeted and killed the leader of al-Qaida and architect of the September attacks who had taken refuge in a wealthy Kabul neighborhood Taliban intelligence agents rounded up the firm s employees including Habibi his brother disclosed According to reporting by Reuters the CIA had hacked the firm s safety camera system to help carry out the strike all unbeknownst to Habibi After arresting Habibi Taliban intelligence agents stated one bystander that he was a spy according to a witness report reviewed by Bay Area News Group Ahmad is adamant that his brother was no intelligence asset for the U S just a civilian I wish he was he would not go back to Afghanistan Ahmad revealed He would know everything Khan was forced to make the journey to the U S without him She settled in Soledad and now lives in an apartment complex with her parents and her four-year-old daughter with Habibi Hoorain With her husband in danger Khan commented she is too stressed to seriously review for the exams that would allow her to practice medicine in California She has trouble focusing and sleeping Every week she and Ahmad speak with the FBI and State Department about any new information of Mahmood And Khan grapples with how she might explain to Hoorain the predicament her father is in It s heartbreaking for me to see her grow up without her father Khan reported It s affecting her emotionally On Tuesday as Hoorain played with a doll Khan lamented how much Habibi had missed of their daughter s life She was nine months old when the Taliban rounded up her father and his colleagues But Khan noted she is recording every step of Hoorain s expansion So when he returns she disclosed he will be able to see all the time that he missed