An American woman has been freed by the Taliban in Afghanistan after she, two Britons and their Afghan translator were detained earlier this year, Washington’s former envoy to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, has said.
She is the fourth US citizen released by the Taliban since January, as part of agreements brokered by Qatar.
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“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad, who has been part of a US delegation working on Taliban captive releases, wrote on X on Saturday.
Hall’s release comes just days after George Glezmann, an American detained in Afghanistan for more than two years, was released by the Taliban earlier this month, and arrived in the United States, where he reunited with his wife and was greeted by a welcoming party that included his former cellmate.
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The Taliban called Glezmann’s release a “goodwill gesture” reflecting its willingness to engage with the United States “on the basis of mutual respect and interests”.
The Taliban has previously described the release of US detainees as part of its global “normalisation” effort.
The group remains an international pariah since its lightning takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021: No country has officially recognised the Taliban government, although several countries continue to operate diplomatic facilities in the country.
Afghanistan’s takeover came as the Joe Biden administration oversaw a withdrawal outlined by the first administration of US President Donald Trump.
The Republican leader negotiated with the Taliban in 2020 to end the war in Afghanistan, and he agreed to a 14-month deadline to withdraw US troops and allied forces.
The agreement was controversial for leaving out the Western-backed Afghan government, which was toppled amid the US’s chaotic exit from the country in 2021.
The Trump administration is yet to articulate a clear policy for how it will approach dealings with the Taliban government during the president’s second term.
Trump has been a regular critic of how the Biden administration oversaw the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A bomb attack at Kabul’s airport in the final days of the chaotic withdrawal killed at least 170 Afghan civilians seeking to flee the country, as well as 13 US soldiers.
