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

Afghanistan's Taliban government on Tuesday announced that it released a U.S. national who had been detained in the country for more than a year.

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.

"Today, our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Dennis' life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 421 days of our lives," Coyle's family said in a statement shared first with CBS News.

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's family said they were "profoundly grateful" to Mr. Trump, Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio and others in the administration, leaders in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and all those who assisted and advocated on his behalf. "Your efforts as mediators, your compassion, and your commitment to diplomacy have given our family the most precious gift imaginable: Dennis' freedom," the family wrote.

Hours after his release, Coyle arrived in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.

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 Afghan 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."

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."

Coyle's family wrote, "We remain mindful of the many families who are still waiting for their loved ones to return, including the families of Mahmoud Habibi and Paul Overby. It was our hope that Dennis, Mahmoud Habibi, and Paul Overby would be returned together to their families, and we cannot imagine the pain that our good fortune will bring them. We recognize the immense privilege of our family's reunion today, and pledge to keep praying and fighting for all Americans held to be swiftly released." 

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.