Umair
The Taliban on Thursday released George Glezmann, an American held since 2022 in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
A native of Atlanta, Mr. Glezmann was a mechanic for Delta Air Lines who was detained while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist in December 2022. The State Department had officially designated him a wrongful detainee.
He boarded a Qatari aircraft in Kabul, the Afghan capital, to fly to Doha with U.S. and Qatari officials on Thursday. Qatar maintains close ties with the ruling Taliban government in Afghanistan and has hosted talks between them and U.S. officials. Negotiations between the first Trump administration and Taliban insurgents for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan took place in Doha.
In his announcement of Mr. Glezmann’s release, Mr. Rubio thanked the Qatari government for its help. Adam Boehler, President Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, took part in the negotiations with the Taliban.
The Taliban toppled the previous Afghan government in August 2021 and returned to power after President Joseph R. Biden Jr. executed the troop withdrawal that Mr. Trump had negotiated in his first term. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban and has imposed sanctions on it. Taliban officials are seeking to normalize relations with the United States.
Mr. Rubio said on Thursday that Mr. Glezmann’s release was “also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan.”
The State Department said it was still seeking the return of six American detainees in Afghanistan and the remains of one U.S. citizen. The agency has not labeled them wrongfully detained, although one State Department official said the Americans were unjustly detained.
A wrongful detention designation means the U.S. government tries to prioritize freeing that citizen.
The department has placed an emphasis on Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who was taken from his vehicle near his home in Kabul in August 2022, according to a report by the F.B.I. Mr. Habibi worked for the Asia Consultancy Group, a telecommunications company based in Kabul.
The Taliban government released two Americans, Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty, in late January as a result of a prisoner swap arranged by the Biden administration. U.S. officials released Khan Mohammed, a member of the Taliban who had been imprisoned for life in California on charges of drug trafficking and terrorism. Mr. Biden gave a conditional commutation to Mr. Mohammed before he left office.
