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Dennis Coyle, the American held captive in Afghanistan for more than one year, has been released, the Taliban announced on Tuesday (March 24) via USA TODAY.
Coyle, 64, of Colorado, was freed after a letter from his family was sent requesting such action on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, according to the Taliban foreign ministry. Coyle's detention period was then deemed to be "sufficient" and his release was granted by a court, the ministry confirmed.
"The foreign minister said that after a letter from the detainee's family ... the Supreme Court ... deemed the period of his detention sufficient and decided to release him," the Afghan Taliban government said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY.
Coyle was detained in January 2025 while visiting Afghanistan to conduct research on the country's languages, having done so for 15 years, according to the Pueblo Chieftain, and the Taliban claimed he violated "the applicable laws of Afghanistan," resulting in his detainment.
"My brother is incredibly intelligent and incredibly compassionate," said Molly Long, Coyle's sister, in an interview with the Chieftain last week. "So (his work is) merging those two worlds where he is a linguist, and using these skills that are very long-term in project scope, and wanting to use those skills to help a people group that needs a lot of help."
"There were no charges, no trial, he's sitting in a basement, I would say resoundingly for hostage diplomacy reasons, which is a deplorable reason to put any family through this," she added.
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