Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban authorities have released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan\u2019s supreme court \u201cconsidered his previous imprisonment sufficient\u201d.<\/p>\n
Coyle was detained in January 2025. Afghan authorities accused him of violating laws, but never specified which ones.<\/p>\n
US secretary of state Marco Rubio welcomed the release.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump is committed to ending unjust detentions overseas \u2013 Dennis joins over 100 Americans who have been freed in the past 15 months under his second term in office,\u201d Rubio said in a statement. \u201cWhile this is a positive step by the Taliban<\/a>, more work needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the US state department announced the designation of Afghanistan as a sponsor of wrongful detention, accusing it of engaging in \u201chostage diplomacy\u201d. Afghanistan joined Iran as countries singled out by the United States for detaining Americans in hopes of extracting policy concessions.<\/p>\n Afghanistan rejected US allegations that it detains foreigners to obtain leverage over other countries, saying Afghan authorities arrest people for violating laws not to make a deal.<\/p>\n The state department said earlier this month that the Taliban was believed to hold at least four US nationals, including Coyle and Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company.<\/p>\n The FBI and Habibi\u2019s family have said they believe he was taken by Taliban forces in 2022, but Afghan authorities have denied holding him.<\/p>\n Habibi\u2019s brother, Ahmad Habibi, welcomed Coyle\u2019s release but said in a statement that \u201cwe hope that our family will soon have the same feeling of relief, when Mahmood is returned home to us\u201d.<\/p>\n