Interim Afghan Taliban government has announced that it was freeing a US national who had been detained for more than a year.
The foreign ministry said on Tuesday the family of linguist and researcher Dennis Coyle had written to the supreme leader of Afghanistan, requesting his release 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, former US 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 Coyle had been reunited with his family in Kabul on Tuesday.
Coyle, 64, was arrested by the Afghan authorities in January 2025, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for the release of Americans taken hostage or arbitrarily detained abroad.
A website set up by his family, freedenniscoyle.com, said he was "legally working to support Afghan communities as an academic researcher" when he was detained.
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.
The latest development came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced earlier this month that Washington had designated Afghanistan as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention", citing what he described as ongoing practices by the Afghan government.
He urged the Afghan government to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all other American detainees in Afghanistan.
The Afghan authorities called it "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 authorities said was a "goodwill gesture".
