Taliban releases American researcher after yearlong detention amid US pressure

The Taliban released a U.S. researcher March 24 who had been held for more than a year in detention in Afghanistan. The move came amid pressure from the Trump administration to release Americans it says are being wrongfully detained by the Taliban, which controls Afghanistan.

According to The New York Times, Dennis Walter Coyle, a 64-year-old from Colorado, was released on direct orders from the Taliban’s leader, Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan stated on social media that it agreed to release Coyle after his family submitted a pardon request for Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The ministry added that it undertook “this action on the basis of humanitarian compassion and goodwill” and said Coyle “was handed over to his family in Kabul” on March 24. 

Coyle had lived and worked in Afghanistan researching languages for more than 20 years. In January 2025, the Taliban took him by force from his Kabul apartment, CBS News reported. His abduction came just six days after another American, Ryan Corbett, was released. Coyle’s family said that during his detainment, Coyle was never charged with a crime and was held in near-solitary conditions, according to the Times. 

While the Taliban’s foreign ministry claimed Coyle was detained “for violating the enforced laws of Afghanistan,” the U.S. State Department formally designated him as wrongfully detained in June 2025. The U.S. does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) facilitated the handover. The Times reported that Saif Al Ketbi, the UAE’s special envoy to Afghanistan, was present at Kabul’s airport when Coyle was released and confirmed the UAE acted at the request of an unnamed third party.

Coyle’s release also comes weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled Afghanistan a “state sponsor of wrongful detention” in a March 9 statement. He accused the Taliban of unjustly holding Americans like Coyle to extract ransom or policy concessions and called for Coyle’s release. 

According to the Times, senior U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler had warned Taliban leaders they could face the same consequences as former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured in a U.S. raid in January, or as Iranian officials targeted in the ongoing war.

U.S. officials say up to three Americans remain in Afghan custody, the Times reported, including Mahmood Shah Habibi — a U.S.-Afghan dual citizen who disappeared in 2022 shortly after a U.S. drone strike in Kabul killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Habibi’s status and whereabouts are unknown. Another American reportedly missing is Paul Edwin Overby Jr., a Massachusetts author who was last seen in 2014 in Khost, a city in southeastern Afghanistan, while researching a book.

In a statement to FOX News, Boehler said the U.S. welcomes the release of Coyle, who was wrongfully detained and “committed no crime” but was being “used as leverage.”

“The United States will not tolerate the unjust detention of its citizens — anywhere,” Boehler said, later adding, “We will not accept hostage diplomacy. We will impose consequences. Americans remain detained abroad. We will not stop until every single American is home."