“Today, after more than a year of captivity in Afghanistan, Dennis Coyle is on his way home,” Rubio said. “President Trump is committed to ending unjust detentions overseas — Dennis joins over 100 Americans who have been freed in the past 15 months under his second term in office.”

Rubio thanked the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for helping with Coyle’s release and their “continued support and advocacy for Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.”

“While this is a positive step by the Taliban, more work needs to be done,” Rubio added, asking about the whereabouts of two other Americans. “The Taliban must end their practice of hostage diplomacy.”

The release came just weeks after Rubio made Afghanistan the second country to be designated as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, a new blacklist created by an executive order from President Donald Trump in September 2025. Coyle was specifically mentioned in the March 9 announcement.

“Today, I am designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” Rubio said. “The Taliban continue to use terrorist tactics to seek policy concessions, but it won’t work under this administration. The Taliban must release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.”

Coyle was brought out in front of the cameras at Kabul International Airport on Tuesday at a press conference, appearing in relatively good condition. His family said he had been kept in solitary conditions since his arrest, despite not being charged with a crime.

His release was facilitated by the UAE, Abu Dhabi’s special envoy Saif Al Ketbi said. He said Coyle’s release came at the request of another party, but declined to divulge who, the New York Times reported.

Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, had grown increasingly belligerent with the Taliban government, threatening its leaders that they could see a repeat of the raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro or the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader.

With Coyle’s release, the United States is now only looking for the whereabouts of two U.S. citizens: Mahmood Shah Habibi, a U.S.-Afghan citizen who disappeared in 2022, and Massachusetts author Paul Edwin Overby Jr., who was last seen in 2014 in Khost while researching a book. Habibi’s family celebrated Coyle’s release but urged further action to secure their loved one’s release as well.

“My family and I are grateful to hear the news of Dennis’ release,” Ahmad Habibi, Mahmood Habibi’s brother, said in a statement. “We hope that our family will soon have the same feeling of relief, when Mahmood is returned home to us. The US Government has overwhelming evidence that the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence arrested my brother. Taliban denials of this obvious fact make it impossible for the people of Afghanistan to get the foreign assistance they need.”

RUBIO DESIGNATES AFGHANISTAN STATE SPONSOR OF WRONGFUL DETENTION OVER US DETAINMENTS

The Trump administration has taken a hard-line stance against Afghanistan, pushing against the further supply of desperately needed aid unless the Taliban government institutes reforms. The country has faced a humanitarian disaster since the Taliban retook control in August 2021, with international isolation and mismanagement rife. Roughly one-third of the population, 17 million people, face acute food shortages, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

Kabul’s problems have been worsened by an escalating war with Pakistan, during which the weakened Afghanistan has sustained many more casualties than its neighbor.