Why the Taliban Simply Freed US Researcher Dennis Coyle

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Why the Taliban Simply Freed US Researcher Dennis Coyle

4 min learnNew DelhiUp to date: Mar 24, 2026 10:48 PM IST

Dennis Walter Coyle, a US researcher who had been detained by Afghanistan’s Taliban-led authorities for greater than a yr, was freed on Tuesday. Coyle’s launch got here amid strain from the Donald Trump administration to free People who’ve been held “with out justification”.

Coyle’s household had requested for a pardon on the event of Eid al-Fitr, which marked the tip of the holy month of Ramadan, following which Afghanistan’s chief, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, ordered his launch, The New York Occasions reported citing a press release from the nation’s international ministry.

Who’s Dennis Walter Coyle?

Coyle, an American researcher, initially from Colorado, had been in Afghanistan since January final yr and the US State Division had designated him as wrongfully detained.

Coyle, 64, had spent years within the South Asian nation on Afghan language analysis. Describing him, the James Foley Basis web site mentioned, “He’s a quiet researcher whose love of language lead him to Afghanistan and its folks. He spent years dwelling in Afghanistan, among the many Afghan folks, steeped of their language and tradition.

A senior US administration official was quoted as saying by Reuters that Coyle was taken from his residence in Kabul in January final yr and held with out expenses in near-solitary confinement.

‘Windowless basement for 14 months’

Almost three months in the past, Coyle’s sister Molly Lengthy narrated the heart-wrenching expertise she underwent upon his detention by the Taliban. Talking to The Denver Submit, Lengthy mentioned their household realized that Coyle was kidnapped close to his office by the Taliban Basic Directorate of Intelligence. The household couldn’t contact Coyle till July 3, and later they heaved a sigh of aid after receiving a letter from him.

Afterwards, they engaged in 4 or 5 10-minute telephone calls with him and their dialog remained closely guarded. Lengthy was quoted as saying by The Denver Submit that the household is aware of he had been held in a basement with little or no gentle and no home windows. He had no mattress, merely a ground mat to sleep on and couldn’t communicate to anybody. “He had all his rights and freedoms taken away,” Lengthy mentioned.

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Single with no youngsters, Coyle was introduced up within the Phoenix space and moved to Pueblo for a job within the late Nineteen Nineties. Later, he returned to the US each 18 to 24 months. He had evacuated Afghanistan in 2021 after the US navy pulled in a foreign country. Nonetheless, he returned 18 months in the past to finish his language venture.

It was the advocacy of Coyle’s three sisters which led to mounting strain on the US authorities to hunt Coyle’s launch, as credited by a US official.

Taliban, a state sponsor of wrongful detention: US

Upon receiving a letter from Coyle’s mom, the Supreme Courtroom of Afghanistan “deemed the interval of his detention enough ⁠and ‌determined to launch him”. Afghanistan didn’t detain residents of any nation for political functions ‌, however over violations of its legal guidelines, the assertion quoted Taliban International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as saying, and ‌they have been launched following the completion of judicial procedures.

This month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention”, demanding that Kabul launch all U.S. residents detained within the nation, together with Coyle and ⁠Mahmood Habibi, the previous head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation.

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