Taliban releases US citizen after visit by envoy

DUBAI (Reuters) -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, along with 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."

In a statement, the brother of still-detained Ahmad Habibi said that 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," Ahmad's brother, Mahmood Habibi, said.

Afghanistan's Taliban government denies it detained Habibi, who was a former head of Afghanistan's civil aviation.

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.

Trump's goal of re-occupying Bagram air base in Afghanistan might end up looking like a re-invasion of the country, requiring more than 10,000 troops as well as deployment of advanced air defenses, officials have told Reuters.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills, additional reporting bu Jonathan Landay in Washington;Writing by Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Nia Williams)

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