US detainee Dennis Coyle released by Taliban after year-long imprisonment in Afghanistan

The Taliban has freed an American citizen after more than a year in captivity, amid pressure from President Donald Trump's administration. Dennis Walter Coyle, 64, who was living in Afghanistan working as a language researcher, according to his family, was arrested in January 2025. In a statement posted online, the Taliban-run Afghan foreign ministry said Coyle's imprisonment was deemed "sufficient" and that he had been pardoned to mark Eid al-Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan. The US government - which declared Afghanistan a "state sponsor of wrongful detention" just weeks ago - welcomed the release, but called for other US citizens being "unjustly" held to be freed, too. According to a family website, Coyle arrived in Afghanistan in the early 2000s to study Afghan linguistics and help communities develop resources in their native languages. He was never charged with a crime by the Taliban following his arrest last year, but was held in "near-solitary conditions", prompting concerns about his health, said his relatives. Asked by the BBC's Afghan service how he was feeling following his release, Coyle said he was feeling good. While Afghan authorities said at the time that he