Here is a story that will make you sick, but the search volume says you need to hear it. It is the story of a regular person getting crushed by the giant, stupid machine we call world politics. It is happening right now regarding **Mahmood Shah Habibi**, an **American citizen missing in Afghanistan** since the U.S. withdrawal. But the mess didn't go away just because we changed the channel.

Let’s look at the facts. They are simple. They are ugly. There is a man named **Mahmood Shah Habibi**. He is a U.S. citizen. He is also from Afghanistan. He worked for the **Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)**. That is the U.S. government. He was not some secret agent jumping off rooftops. He was a guy who knew about planes and communication. He went back to Kabul to help a telecom company. He wanted to do a job. He wanted to help modernize a place that is stuck in the stone age.

That was his mistake. Never try to help. The world punishes people who try to help.

In August of 2022, everything went wrong. This was right after the United States killed a big terror leader with a drone in downtown Kabul. The Taliban was angry. They were embarrassed. So, what did they do? Witnesses confirm the **Taliban’s intelligence service—the GDI**—grabbed Mr. Habibi. They snatched him up along with a bunch of other employees. They took him away. Just like that. One minute you are a businessman, the next minute you are a ghost.

Now, here is where it gets really stupid. The Taliban officials are looking the world in the eye and saying, “Who? We don’t have him.”

They claim they have looked everywhere. They say they checked their jails. They say they checked their lists. They say he isn’t there. This is a lie. It is not even a good lie. It is the kind of lie a child tells when they have chocolate all over their face but say they didn't eat the cookie. Everyone knows the **Taliban detained him**. Witnesses saw it happen. The United States government says he is in their custody. But the Taliban just shrugs. They have guns, so they don't have to tell the truth.

Why would they admit it? If they admit they have him, they have to explain why they grabbed an innocent American. If they keep him a secret, he is just a card in their deck. Maybe they want to trade him later. Maybe they just forgot about him. Maybe he is just stuck in a dark room because some low-level guard lost the paperwork. That is the horror of these regimes. They are not just evil; they are incompetent. They are bad at their jobs. And people die because of it.

And what is the United States doing about it? They are “raising the issue.” They are “pressing for his release.” They are “monitoring the situation.”

Do you know what those words mean? They mean nothing. They are empty air. It means people in nice suits are sitting in air-conditioned offices in Washington, D.C., writing emails that nobody reads. They are holding meetings. They are writing reports. Meanwhile, a man has been missing for years. That is a long time to sit in a cell wondering if anyone remembers your name.

This is the reality of the world we live in. We draw lines on maps. We make big speeches about freedom and safety. But if you step one foot over the wrong line, you are on your own. The passport in your pocket is just a piece of paper. It doesn't stop a guy with an AK-47 from throwing you in a van.

The **FBI reward** is out there. They offered money for information. But what good is money when the people holding him run the country? You think a Taliban guard is going to call the FBI tip line? It is laughable. It is a show. It makes the government feel like they are doing something, so they don't have to admit they are powerless.

Mr. Habibi went back to a broken place to try and fix things. He tried to do business. Now, his family waits. They wait for a phone call that never comes. They wait for a government to save him, but that government is tired and distracted. The news cycle moves too fast. We care about the new thing, the shiny thing. We don't care about the guy stuck in a hole in Kabul from a war we gave up on years ago.

The Taliban are liars. We know this. The U.S. government is slow and weak. We know this. And in the middle, a human being is disappearing, day by day. It is tragic, it is predictable, and it is exactly what you should expect from this mess of a world.

***

**REFERENCES & FACT-CHECK**

* **Primary Source**: *Missing in Kabul: The U.S. Citizen Witnesses Say Was Held by the Taliban* (The New York Times, Jan 28, 2026). [Read the original report here](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/world/asia/us-citizen-missing-afghanistan-taliban.html). * **Subject**: **Mahmood Shah Habibi**, U.S. citizen and former FAA contractor. * **Timeline**: Detained in August 2022 following the U.S. drone strike on Ayman al-Zawahiri. * **Key Entities**: Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).