KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced the release of a US national on Tuesday who had been detained for more than a year, after a letter from his family requesting his freedom.
The foreign ministry said the family of linguist and researcher Dennis Coyle had written to the supreme leader of Afghanistan, asking that he be released and pardoned for Eid.
“The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate deemed his period of detention sufficient and decided on his release,” a statement read.
The announcement came after a meeting of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, US former special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the UAE ambassador to Kabul Saif Mohammed Al-Ketbi, and a member of Coyle’s family.
The UAE facilitated the release, the ministry said, adding that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds and as a gesture of “goodwill”. Coyle, 64, appeared relieved at a short news conference at Kabul airport alongside Khalilzad, an AFP team said. Khalilzad told reporters that the release was a “very positive development and a good decision… by the authorities”.
The family of the last Afghan held at the US high-security prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba meanwhile renewed their call for his release.
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