Zürcher Nachrichten - Afghanistan announces release of detained US citizen

The foreign ministry said the family of linguist and researcher Dennis Coyle had written to the supreme leader of Afghanistan, asking that he be released and pardoned for Eid.

"The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate deemed his period of detention sufficient and decided on his release," a statement read.

The announcement came after a meeting of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, US former special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the UAE ambassador to Kabul Saif Mohammed Al-Ketbi, and a member of Coyle's family.

The UAE facilitated the release, the ministry said, adding that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds and as a gesture of "goodwill".

Coyle, 64, appeared relieved at a short news conference at Kabul airport alongside Khalilzad before leaving on an Emirati private jet, an AFP team said.

Khalilzad told reporters that the release was a "very positive development and a good decision... by the authorities".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also welcomed Coyle's release, and urged the Taliban authorities to release all other detainees.

"Dennis joins over 100 Americans who have been freed in the past 15 months," he said, adding that the United States was "still seeking the immediate return of Mahmood Habibi, Paul Overby, and all other unjustly detained Americans".

The family of the last Afghan held at the US high-security prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba meanwhile renewed their call for his release.

Ibrahim Rahim, 29, said he had sent a letter via Khalilzad to US President Donald Trump asking for his father, Muhammad Rahim, to be freed on medical grounds.

Muhammad Rahim arrived at Guantanamo in March 2008 and was accused by the CIA of being a close associate of the al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

"We have written in the letter that we released your detainee here, so you should release our detainee there as well," his son said.

The family last called for his release in November 2023.

- 'Legally working' -

Coyle, from Colorado, was arrested in January 2025, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for the release of Americans taken hostage or arbitrarily detained abroad.

The foreign ministry said he was held "due to violations of Afghanistan's applicable laws", without elaborating.

But a website set up by his family, freedenniscoyle.com, said he had been "legally working to support Afghan communities as an academic researcher" when he was detained.

They said he had been held in "near-solitary conditions, requiring permission even to use the bathroom, and without access to adequate medical care".

Coyle first travelled to Afghanistan in the early 2000s "to survey Afghanistan's rich linguistic diversity and help Afghan communities develop resources in their own languages", they added.

"Throughout his years of service, Dennis maintained a home in Kabul and built deep, meaningful relationships with the Afghan people," the website read.

"His love for the Afghan people isn't just professional; it's personal and deeply felt."

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States had formally placed Afghanistan on its list of countries engaged in "wrongful detentions".

The Afghan authorities called that "regrettable" and pointed to talks between the two sides and previous releases with mediators from Qatar.

In 2025, five American citizens were released in what the Taliban authorities said was a "goodwill gesture".

Two Afghan former prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay until 2017 were welcomed home in February last year, more than 20 years after they were first arrested.

Mahmood Habibi, a telecoms consultant, was abducted in Kabul in August 2022, shortly after a US strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Taliban authorities deny any part in his disappearance.

L.Zimmermann--NZN