Afghan authorities on Tuesday released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with Afghanistan’s Taliban-run 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.
A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul, the country’s capital, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s Supreme Court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient.”
Coyle was detained in January 2025 on allegations of violating laws, although Afghan authorities never publicly stated what laws he was accused of having violated.
In a separate statement, the ministry indicated the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had helped mediate Coyle’s release, and said Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had met in Kabul with former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad ahead of the release.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced the designation of Afghanistan as a sponsor of wrongful detention, accusing it of engaging in “hostage diplomacy.” Afghanistan joined Iran as countries singled out by the United States for detaining Americans in hopes of extracting policy concessions.
Afghanistan’s government rejected U.S. allegations that it detains foreigners to obtain leverage over other countries, saying Afghan authorities arrest people for violating laws not to make a deal.
Afghan authorities are believed to hold at least one other U.S. national. Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company, vanished in the country in 2022.
The FBI and Habibi’s family have said they believe he was taken by Taliban forces, but the Taliban have denied holding him.
