Afghanistan frees detained US citizen Dennis Coyle as gesture of ‘goodwill’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomes Coyle’s release as ‘positive step’ while thanking Qatar and UAE for support.Authorities in Afghanistan have released United States citizen Dennis Coyle, who was detained in the country for more than a year, after a plea from his family.The country’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the family of linguist and researcher Coyle had written to the country’s leadership, asking that he be released and pardoned for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UN revises Kabul rehab strike toll as Pakistan denies targeting civilianslist 2 of 3Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to temporary Eid al-Fitr ‘pause’ in conflictlist 3 of 3Do Taliban’s drone attacks expose a chink in Pakistan’s armour?end of list“The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate deemed his period of detention sufficient and decided on his release,” the ministry said in a statement.The announcement comes after a meeting of Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, former US Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Kabul Saif Mohammed al-Ketbi, and a member of Coyle’s family.The UAE facilitated the release, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds and as a gesture of “goodwill”.Coyle, centre, poses with former US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, right, and the UAE ambassador to Kabul Saif Mohammed al-Ketbi, left, at the airport in Kabul on March 24, 2026 [AFP]US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also thanked the UAE and Qatar on Tuesday “for their support” in securing Coyle’s release.“The release is a positive step towards ending the practice of hostage diplomacy,” Rubio wrote in a social media post.Earlier this month, Rubio designated Afghanistan’s Taliban government as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention”, warning that the country was not safe for US citizens to visit.