Taliban frees U.S. citizen following visit by U.S. envoy

Afghanistan’s Taliban released a U.S. citizen from detention on Sunday after a visit by Washington’s hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, the U.S. government said.
Amir Amiri, who had been held since December 2024, was freed through mediation by Qatar and was en route to Doha on Sunday evening, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
Boehler’s visit came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump urged the Taliban to give back control of Bagram air base to the United States, threatening “bad things” would happen to Afghanistan if it does not.
Amiri is the fifth American to be released by the Taliban this year with the help of Qatari mediators, the source added. A British couple, detained for eight months, was also freed in the same process.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed gratitude to Qatar on X, confirming the release.

“POTUS (the president) has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home.”

Meanwhile, the brother of Ahmad Habibi, a former Afghan civil aviation chief still held by the Taliban, said he has received repeated assurances from the administration that any deal with the Taliban would be an “all or nothing” agreement and Habibi would not be left behind.

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

The Taliban government denies detaining Habibi.
The Bagram air base, targeted by Trump, was a key U.S. military site following the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was seized by the Taliban after the withdrawal of American troops in 2021 and the fall of the U.S.-backed Kabul government.
Officials told Reuters that Trump’s goal of re-occupying Bagram air base in Afghanistan might require more than 10,000 troops as well as deployment of advanced air defences, potentially amounting to a large-scale military operation.