WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who was kidnapped greater than two years in the past whereas touring via Afghanistan as a vacationer has been launched by the Taliban in a cope with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped dealer, the State Division stated Thursday.
George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be launched by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence providers in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. authorities as wrongfully detained the next yr.
In a press release, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Glezmann was on his approach again to the US to be reunited together with his spouse, Aleksandra, and praised Qatar for “steadfast dedication and diplomatic efforts” that he stated had been “instrumental in securing George’s launch.”
“George’s launch is a constructive and constructive step,” Rubio stated. “It is usually a reminder that different Individuals are nonetheless detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will proceed his tireless work to free ALL Individuals unjustly detained world wide.”
Glezmann was being accompanied again to the U.S., via Qatar’s capital, Doha, by Adam Boehler, who has been dealing with hostage points for President Donald Trump’s administration. The Taliban disclosed earlier Thursday that Boehler had met with a delegation that included Afghan Overseas Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Glezmann, 66, was in Afghanistan as a vacationer on the time of his abduction and has visited greater than 100 international locations as a part of his ardour for exploring totally different cultures, in keeping with a profile on the web site of the Foley Basis, a corporation that advocates for the discharge of Individuals detained by international international locations.
George Glezmann is free. George was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan for 2 and a half years, however now he’s on his option to be reunited together with his spouse Aleksandra. Welcome house, George!
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 20, 2025
The discharge of Glezmann is a part of what the Taliban has beforehand described because the “normalization” of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Most international locations nonetheless don’t acknowledge the Taliban’s rule.
Glezmann’s launch follows a separate deal, organized in January within the last days of the Biden administration and in addition mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty.
The Taliban’s Overseas Ministry in Kabul stated on the time that these two U.S. residents had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to 2 life phrases in 2008 after being convicted underneath U.S. narco-terrorism legal guidelines for securing heroin and opium that he knew was sure for the U.S.
Not like in that association, the U.S. didn’t surrender any prisoner to safe Glezmann’s launch, which was performed as a goodwill gesture, in keeping with an official briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Overseas Ministry confirmed Glezmann’s launch on “humanitarian grounds.” In a press release, it stated the “Islamic Emirate once more reaffirms its longstanding place that dialogue, understanding and diplomacy present efficient avenues for resolving all points.”
President Joe Biden contemplated earlier than he left workplace an earlier proposal that will have concerned the discharge of Glezmann and different Individuals for Muhammad Rahim, one of many remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
However Biden informed households throughout a name in January that he wouldn’t assist buying and selling Rahim until the Taliban launched Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who labored as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications firm and vanished in 2022.
The FBI and Habibi’s household have stated they consider Habibi was taken by Taliban forces, however the Taliban has denied holding him. Representatives for Habibi on Thursday cited what they stated was “overwhelming proof” that he was arrested by the Taliban after his house was searched by individuals figuring out themselves as a part of the Taliban’s safety service.
“We’re assured that the Trump Administration will maintain agency that my brother must be launched for relations with the U.S. to maneuver ahead,” certainly one of Habibi’s brothers, Ahmad, stated in a press release. “We’ve purpose to be assured Mahmood is alive and in Taliban custody, regardless of their hole denials of holding him. My brother is an harmless man who has been held away from his spouse, younger daughter, and aged mother and father for 953 days.”
___
Related Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
