2026年3月24日 / 美国东部时间上午10:55 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
阿富汗塔利班政府周二宣布，释放一名自2025年1月起被扣押的美国公民。
外交部在一份声明中表示，在收到其家人的信件后，他们同意释放科伊尔，并表示丹尼斯·科伊尔”将因开斋节（斋月结束的节日）获得赦免并获释”。美国国务院随后证实了科伊尔的获释。
一位参与囚犯谈判的塔利班高级官员告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，塔利班与美国自2月底以来一直在举行谈判。
来自科罗拉多州的64岁学者科伊尔是被塔利班强行从其喀布尔公寓带走的。就在他被绑架前六天，另一名美国人瑞安·科比特在特朗普总统第二个任期开始时获释。
外交部在声明中表示，科伊尔获释是”基于人道主义同情和善意”，并相信此类步骤能”进一步加强两国之间的信任氛围”，同时喀布尔”也希望两国未来能通过理解和建设性对话解决剩余问题”。
本月早些时候，美国国务院宣布将阿富汗指定为”非法拘留行为赞助国”。
“本月早些时候，我会见了莫莉、艾米和帕蒂，他们请求帮助将他们的兄弟丹尼斯·科伊尔从阿富汗的拘留中释放出来，”国务卿马尔科·卢比奥在社交媒体上写道。”今天，丹尼斯正在回家的路上……这次释放是结束人质外交做法的积极一步。”
![丹尼斯·科伊尔的无日期照片，他自2025年1月26日起被塔利班扣押在阿富汗。科伊尔家人提供]
据其家人称，科伊尔在阿富汗进行了近二十年的语言研究，被塔利班情报总局单独监禁，未被提出任何指控。科伊尔在科比特获释后不久被捕获，这凸显了美国人在阿富汗面临的持续风险，即使是那些拥有长期合法身份并与当地社区有着深厚联系的人。
去年6月，美国政府根据《罗伯特·莱文森人质营救与劫持问责法案》正式将科伊尔认定为”被非法拘留者”，这一身份可动用某些政府工具，并提高了确保其获释的工作优先级。
美国不承认塔利班为阿富汗合法政府，且在该国没有外交存在，这使得通常由卡塔尔作为美国代表进行的释放谈判复杂化。
据知情人士透露，一个卡塔尔团队定期探望科伊尔，检查其健康状况并促进他与家人的沟通。
这些努力包括圣诞节前后卡塔尔官员会见科伊尔并转达其家人的消息，以及上个月他给他们写了一封信给他母亲。
拜登政府曾与塔利班谈判，以交换被关押在关塔那摩的穆罕默德·拉希姆·阿夫加尼（Muhammad Rahim al Afghani）——一名据称是奥萨马·本·拉登同伙的囚犯，以换取被扣押的美国人，但谈判最终失败。美国官员提议释放拉希姆以换取乔治·格莱兹曼、瑞安·科比特和2022年被绑架的阿富汗裔美国人马哈茂德·哈比比。塔利班则要求释放拉希姆和另外两人，同时否认扣押哈比比。
塔利班继续扣押美国公民保罗·奥弗比的遗体、一名身份未公开且情况不明的公民以及哈比比——尽管塔利班从未承认过哈比比的案件。
哈比比的家人周二向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻发表声明，对科伊尔的获释表示欢迎。
“我的家人和我听到丹尼斯获释的消息感到非常感激，”他的兄弟艾哈迈德·哈比比在一份声明中说。”我们希望当马哈茂德回到我们身边时，我们的家人很快也能有同样的解脱感。美国政府有确凿证据表明塔利班情报总局逮捕了我的兄弟。塔利班否认这一明显事实，使得阿富汗人民无法获得他们所需的外国援助。”
周二接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访的塔利班官员表示，拉希姆”本应现在就被释放，但不幸的是美国方面尚未兑现其先前的承诺”。
在卡塔尔谈判代表的帮助下，科比特和另一名美国人威廉·麦肯蒂于去年1月获释，以交换一名因贩毒被判处终身监禁的塔利班成员。格莱兹曼和另一名美国人费伊·霍尔于3月获释，随后是第五名美国人阿米拉·阿米里，他于去年9月获释。
国务院已提供500万美元悬赏，以获取有助于哈比比返回的信息。
萨米·优素福扎伊、克莱尔·戴、卡米拉·施克和奥利维亚·加齐斯对本报道有贡献。
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.