Taliban Releases US Citizen Faye Hall Held in Afghanistan

An American citizen detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan last month said on March 29 that she has been released.

“I’m glad you’re the President, and thank you for bringing me home,” she said in the video also shared by Trump on his Truth Social platform. “I have never been so proud to be an American citizen. Thank you, Mr. President. God bless you.”

“And I just want you to know, all the women in the Afghan jail, they always ask me, ‘When is Trump coming?’ Truly, they just treat you like their savior. They’re waiting for you to come and set them free, and just sends regards. And I just don’t want to forget those women are still in jail and don’t have any rights,” she said.

A U.S. official said that Trump’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, along with Qatari officials and others, had negotiated Hall’s release. She was charged with unauthorized drone usage.

Hall was released on March 27 by court order, a source said. She was received at the Qatari Embassy in Kabul and confirmed to be in good health after undergoing medical checks.

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Hall was arrested in February alongside a British couple who had been running projects in Afghan schools for 18 years and decided to stay after the Taliban took power in 2021.

Family of the couple Barbie and Peter Reynolds, who are in their 70s, have pleaded for the couple’s release amid concerns over their health, British media have reported.

Hall was released after the United States lifted bounties on three senior Taliban officials, including interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, which the Taliban announced on March 23.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani named the other two officials as Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani.

Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul that killed six people, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. He has been under United Nations sanctions since 2007, because of his involvement with the network founded by his father, Jalaluddin.

Afghan Foreign Ministry official Zakir Jalaly said the actions show that both sides are “moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress” in bilateral relations.

“The recent developments in Afghanistan–U.S. relations are a good example of the pragmatic and realistic engagement between the two governments,” he said.

Taliban official Shafi Azam called the development the beginning of normalization.

The Haqqani network grew into one of the deadliest arms of the Taliban after the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. The group employed roadside bombs, suicide bombings, and other attacks, including on the Indian and U.S. embassies, the Afghan presidency, and other major targets.

The Taliban have faced widespread condemnation for their authoritarianism, especially bans affecting women and girls. Haqqani has spoken out against the Taliban’s decision-making process and alienation of segments of the Afghan population.

In the past year, Haqqani has been allowed by the United Nations to travel, including to the United Arab Emirates to meet the country’s leadership and to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. These were his first trips abroad since the Taliban takeover.

Hall is among 39 wrongfully detained Americans who have been freed since the president entered the White House on Jan. 20.

Several Americans remain detained in Afghanistan.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.