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Agence France-Presse

Afghanistan’s Taliban government released an American citizen from detention on Sunday, a week after freeing an elderly British couple.
In a statement the country’s foreign ministry identified the detainee as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, Washington’s special envoy on hostages.
Boehler made a rare visit to Kabul earlier this month to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban government.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American citizen named Amir Amiri from prison today,” the foreign ministry on X, using the official name for the government.
“The Afghan government does not view the issues of citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve issues through diplomacy.”
Little is known about Amiri’s case, as it has not been widely reported.
An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri, who is 36, “had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024”.
The official added that Amiri would stop briefly in Doha, Qatar for medical checks before continuing back to the United States.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release of Amiri, said he had been “wrongfully detained” in Afghanistan, and thanked Qatar for helping to get him freed.
While the handing over of Amiri “marks an important step forward, additional Americans remain unjustly detained in Afghanistan”, Rubio said in a statement. “President Trump will not rest until all our captive citizens are back home.”

In January two Americans were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States.
Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.
At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is being held in Afghanistan. The United States is offering a US$5 million reward for information to find him. The Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.
Just a week ago, Britons Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were released from a Kabul prison after almost eight months in detention. The Taliban authorities did not say why they were detained.
The couple were arrested in February and first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, United Nations experts have said.
The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.
All the releases have been mediated by Qatar.
Both the US and Britain, like many other Western nations, warn against all travel to Afghanistan.
Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and has been accused of sweeping human rights violations.
Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the group returned to power in August 2021, when most embassies withdrew their diplomatic presence.
The Taliban government says it wants to have good relations with other countries, notably the United States, despite the 20-year war against US-led forces.


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Taliban

US citizen released by Afghanistan’s Taliban after visit by envoy

US citizen Amir Amiri, second from left, poses before boarding a plane in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday after being released from an Afghan prison. With him, from right, is Deputy Assistant to the US President Sebastian Gorka, an unidentified Qatari diplomat, Charge d’Affaires of the Qatari embassy in Afghanistan Dr Mirdef al-Qashouti, centre, and, US Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler. Photo: Qatar Foreign Ministry via AP

Amiri, left, poses next to an unidentified woman aboard a plane in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday after being released from an Afghan prison. Photo: Qatar Foreign Ministry via AP

Taliban free UK couple held for months in Afghanistan on undisclosed charges

Peter and Barbie Reynolds at an unknown location. The British couple have been freed in Afghanistan after several months in detention following mediation by Qatar. Photo: AFP/Family handout

Qatari and British diplomats (left) and the released British couple, Barbie and Peter Reynolds, aboard a plane before departing to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday. Photo: via AP

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The foreign ministry identified the prisoner as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, US special envoy on hostages


The foreign ministry identified the prisoner as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, US special envoy on hostages.
