Taliban releases US citizen after envoy’s visit

DUBAI: Afghanistan's ruling Taliban released another US citizen from custody on Sunday (Sep 28) after a visit by Washington’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler, the US government said.

Amir Amiri, who had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024, was freed through Qatari mediation and was on his way to Doha on Sunday evening, a source told Reuters.

Boehler’s trip came a week after US President Donald Trump urged the Taliban to hand back control of Bagram air base to Washington, warning that “bad things” would happen to Afghanistan if it refused.

Amiri is the fifth American released by the Taliban this year through Qatari mediation, along with a British couple held for eight months, the source said.

“I want to thank Qatar for helping secure his freedom,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X, confirming the release. “The president has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home.”

In a statement, Mahmood Habibi – the brother of Ahmad Habibi, who remains detained – said the administration had promised that any deal with the Taliban would be “all or nothing” and that his sibling would not be left behind.

“The Biden administration did nothing for us. We have faith in President Trump,” Habibi said.

The Taliban denies detaining Ahmad Habibi, a former head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation authority.

Bagram air base, once the hub of US forces after the September 11, 2001, attacks, was taken over by the Taliban after the American withdrawal in 2021 and the collapse of Kabul’s US-backed government.

US officials have warned that Trump’s goal of re-occupying Bagram could look like a re-invasion, requiring more than 10,000 troops and advanced air defences.