The Kabul Tribune (KT) — The United States Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have jointly reissued rewards totaling $6 million for information on the disappearance of American writer Paul Edwin Overby Jr., who went missing in Afghanistan in 2014.
Overby disappeared in Khost while conducting research for a book, with U.S. authorities stating he may have also been considering travel toward the border with Pakistan at the time.
According to the FBI, Overby had been working on research for a follow-up to his earlier nonfiction book on Afghanistan, Holy Blood: An Inside View of the Afghan War. His wife, Jane Larson, previously said he was attempting to interview senior figures within the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
Authorities said that for more than a decade, FBI agents and analysts have continued efforts to locate him and bring him home, stressing that investigations remain active and all credible leads are being pursued.
The reward includes up to $1 million announced by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and up to $5 million under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. Both rewards remain unclaimed.
U.S. officials also noted that several American citizens have recently been released from detention in Afghanistan through diplomatic efforts involving third-party mediators.
