塔利班释放被扣押一年多的美国公民丹尼斯·科伊尔

Taliban releases U.S. citizen Dennis Coyle over a year after he was detained

March 24, 2026 / 10:55 AM EDT / CBS News

Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday announced that it released a U.S. national who had been detained since January 2025.

The foreign ministry said in a statement it agreed to the release after a letter from his family, and that Dennis Coyle “would be pardoned and released” for Eid, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The U.S. State Department later confirmed Coyle’s release.

A Taliban senior official involved in prisoner negotiations told CBS News that the Taliban and U.S. have been holding talks since the last week of February.

Coyle, a 64-year-old academic from Colorado, was taken by force from his Kabul apartment by the Taliban. His abduction came just six days after another American, Ryan Corbett, was released at the start of President Trump’s second term.

Coyle was being released “based on humanitarian sympathy and goodwill, and believes that such steps can further strengthen the atmosphere of trust between countries,” the foreign ministry said in its statement, adding that Kabul “also expresses the hope that both countries will find solutions to the remaining problems through understanding and constructive dialogue in the future.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced the designation of Afghanistan as a sponsor of wrongful detention.

“Earlier this month, I met Molly, Amy, and Patti as they asked for help freeing their brother Dennis Coyle from detention in Afghanistan,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media. “Today, Dennis is on his way home…. The release is a positive step towards ending the practice of hostage diplomacy.”

Undated photo of Dennis Coyle, an American who is has been detained in Afghanistan by the Taliban since Jan. 26, 2025. Family of Dennis Coyle

Coyle, who spent nearly two decades in Afghanistan conducting language research, was being held by the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence in near-solitary confinement with no charges filed, according to his family. Coyle’s capture so soon after Corbett’s release illustrates the ongoing risks faced by Americans in Afghanistan, even those with long-standing legal status and deep ties to local communities.

Last June, the U.S. government officially designated Coyle as wrongfully detained under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, a status that unlocks select government tools and elevates the priority of efforts to secure his release.

The United States does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government and lacks a diplomatic presence in the country, complicating release negotiations that are often conducted by Qatar as an intermediary on behalf of the U.S.

According to a source with knowledge of the release, a Qatari team paid regular visits to Coyle to check on his health and to facilitate communication between him and his family.

Those efforts included a visit around Christmas when Qatari officials met with Coyle and conveyed a message from his family, and another meeting last month when he gave them a letter he wrote to his mother.

The Biden administration held negotiations with the Taliban to swap Americans detained in Afghanistan for Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, a Guantanamo Bay detainee alleged to have been an associate of Osama bin Laden, but the talks ultimately fell through. U.S. officials proposed releasing Rahim in exchange for George Glezmann, Ryan Corbett and Afghan-American Mahmoud Habibi, who was abducted in 2022. The Taliban countered by seeking Rahim and two others while denying it held Habibi.

The Taliban continue to hold the remains of American Paul Overby, one citizen who has not been named and whose circumstances remain murky, and Habibi — though the Taliban have never acknowledged his case.

In a statement released to CBS News on Tuesday, Habibi’s family applauded the release of Coyle.

“My family and I are grateful to hear the new of Dennis’ release,” his brother Ahmad Habibi said in a statement. “We hope that our family will soon have the same feeling of relief, when Mahmood is returned home to us. The U.S. Government has overwhelming evidence that the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence arrested my brother. Taliban denials of this obvious fact make it impossible for the people of Afghanistan to get the foreign assistance they need.”

The Taliban official who spoke to CBS News on Tuesday said Rahim “should have been freed by now, but unfortunately the American side have not acted on their earlier promises and commitments yet.”

With the help of Qatari negotiators, Corbett and another American, William McKenty, were released last January in exchange for a Taliban figure who had been imprisoned for life on drug trafficking charges. Glezmann and another American, Faye Hall, were released in March, followed by a fifth American, Amir Amiri, who was freed last September.

The State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Habibi’s return.

Sami Yousafzai, Claire Day, Camilla Schick and Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.