According to the US State Department, the US citizen who was accused of the Taliban was released after being confined two years later.
George Grezmann, who was accused of as a tourist in Afghanistan in December 2022, was the third time a US detainee has been released by the Taliban since January.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Grezmann’s release represented a “positive and constructive step.”
He also thanked Qatar for the role of “instrumental” in securing the release.
“Today, after two and a half years of confinement in Afghanistan, Delta Air Lines mechanic George Grezman is on his way to reunite with his wife, Alexandra,” Rubio wrote.
“George joins America’s Ryan Corbett and William McEnti. He was released from Afghanistan on the night of President Trump’s inauguration and returned home to his family.”
However, Corbett and McEnti were allowed to leave based on a transaction that reached during the administration of US President Joe Biden, mediated by Qatar.
The Taliban has previously described the release of US detainees as part of a global “normalization” effort.
The group has remained an international pariah since taking over Afghanistan to lightning in August 2021. No country has officially recognized the Taliban government. Although some countries continue to operate diplomatic facilities within the country.
The Afghan takeover came when the Biden administration oversaw the withdrawal outlined by US President Donald Trump’s first administration.
Republican leaders negotiated with the Taliban in 2020 to end the war in Afghanistan, and he agreed to a 14-month deadline for withdrawing US and allied forces.
The agreement was controversial in 2021, excluding the Western-backed Afghan government that fell amid a chaotic exit in the US.
Unlike the release agreements for detainees reached with the Taliban under Biden, Grezman’s departure from Taliban custody did not involve the exchange of US-held prisoners, a secretariat official who told the Associated Press news agency.
Officials described the move as a good-intentional gesture.
More US citizens were held
The Trump administration has not made clear any clear policies on how it will address dealing with the Taliban government during the second term of the president.
But Trump was a regular critic of the way the Biden administration oversaw withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The bomb attacks at Kabul airport in the last days of the retreat not only caused at least 170 Afghan civilians to flee the country, but also killed 13 US soldiers.
Trump repeatedly mentioned the “monastery gate” bombing when he ran a second-term campaign in 2024, calling it “the most embarrassing day in our country’s history.”
Republican leaders have regularly maintained that the withdrawal would have been more orderly under his watch, but since taking office he has cut foreign funding and refugee programs supporting Afghans.
On that side, the Biden administration was largely denounced the first Trump administration, which kept it well equipped to meet the deadline for withdrawal.
Critics also point out that hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens who worked for US military and US aid projects still remain in Afghanistan, in the danger of retaliation from the Taliban.
Others live in unstable circumstances in refugee camps, including nearby Pakistan.
An estimated 10,000 Afghans approved to travel to the United States have been found stuck after Trump suspended his refugee program in January.
Advocacy groups have urged the Trump administration to reverse the course and ensure that refugees are transported safely.
“President Trump has campaigned for a lot of things related to Afghanistan, particularly how bad the withdrawal is,” Sean Vandivar, founder of #afghanevac, an organization that supports resettlement in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera last month.
“So I don’t believe he’s going to do it, and I won’t try to help our allies. I just hope this is a mistake.”
In his statement Thursday, Rubio confirmed that other US citizens are still being detained by the Taliban. US officials say they include Mahmoud Habibi, an American businessman from Afghanistan. The Taliban denied the holding of Habibi.
“President Trump will continue his tireless work to free all Americans who are unfairly detained around the world,” Rubio said.
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