Taliban Says It Released American Citizen Who Was Detained for Past Year

Afghanistan’s Taliban on Tuesday said that a U.S. citizen who was held captive for more than a year was released.

Dennis Coyle was “detained for violating the enforced laws of Afghanistan,” the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, translated into English. The translated statement added that he was released on behalf of the family and the Taliban.

Coyle was released “based on humanitarian compassion and goodwill” and the action “has further strengthened the atmosphere of trust” between Afghanistan and the United States, the foreign ministry said. Kabul also “expresses the hope that both countries will … find ways to resolve the remaining issues through mutual understanding and constructive dialogue,” it added

He was detained on Jan. 27, 2025, on allegations of violating the country’s laws, although Afghan authorities never publicly stated what laws he was accused of having violated. A native of Colorado, Coyle had spent much of the past two decades in Kabul working to study Afghanistan’s linguistic diversity and helping local communities develop resources in their own languages.

A website that was set up by Coyle’s family stated that he “was legally working to support Afghan communities as an academic researcher” when he was detained by the Taliban, a U.S.-designated global terrorist organization.

“Dennis has been held in near-solitary conditions, requiring permission even to use the bathroom, and without access to adequate medical care,” the site said. “His family is deeply concerned for his health and well-being.”

It also noted that the U.S. Department of State had declared earlier this month that Coyle was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan under a hostage law.

Molly Long, Coyle’s sister, told The Denver Post newspaper in January this year that the family lost contact with him for several months. In July 2025, they received a letter stipulating that he was still alive. They have also been able to communicate with him via several phone calls, she added.

Coyle “had all his rights and freedoms taken away,” she said.

According to Long, Coyle had evacuated Afghanistan when the U.S. military removed itself from the country after wrapping up the 20-year conflict in the country that was triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He returned to the country about a year and a half later to finish his research.

Long told The Denver Post that the Trump administration has been highly engaged with the family to get Coyle released.

“This is the president’s top priority—we can feel that,” she said. “It feels inspiring to know that President Trump knows my brother’s name and has it in his purview.”

On March 9, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention” and that the “Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end.”

“It is not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals,” the statement reads.

“The Taliban needs to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.