Amir Amiri, who had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024, poses for a picture alongside Adam Boehler, the U.S. special envoy for hostage response, Sebastian Gorka, the deputy assistant to the U.S. president and senior director for counterterrorism, Qatari diplomats and others before boarding a plane in Kabul Afghanistan, September 28, 2025 in this handout image.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Dubai: Afghanistan's ruling Taliban released another U.S. citizen from custody on Sunday after a visit by Washington's hostage envoy Adam Boehler, the U.S. government said.. Amir Amiri, who had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024, was released through Qatari mediation and was on his way to Doha on Sunday evening, an official source told Reuters, asking not to be identified by name or nationality.
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 was the fifth U.S. citizen freed by the Taliban this year thanks to Qatari mediation, including earlier in September a British couple held for eight months, the source said.
"I want to thank Qatar for helping secure his freedom," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 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."
The Bagram base targeted by Trump was used by U.S. forces after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. It was among bases the Islamist Taliban movement took over after the withdrawal of American forces in 2021 and toppling of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.