An American woman who has been held by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been released, the former American ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said Saturday.
“The American citizen Faye Hall, just published by Los Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on their way to home,” Khalilzad said in an X post.
His publication presented a photo of Hall smiling and sitting between two men. It was not clear who the two men are.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed to NBC News that an American citizen was released this week. The spokesman said he was delivered to a group that negotiated his release with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Khalilzad did not give more details about the circumstances of Hall’s launch. The United States Department of State did not respond immediately to the application for confirmation of NBC News.
Hall had been arrested in Afghanistan since February for charges to use a drone without authorization, said Associated Press.
President Donald Trump shared a video of Hall in his social account of the truth on Saturday afternoon.
In the video, Hall said he voted for Trump twice and that he is so happy to be in office, calling this “the new era.”
“Thank you for bringing me home, and I’ve never been so proud to be a American citizen,” Hall said in the video published by Trump.
Earlier this month, the American George Glezmann, who had been held by the Taliban for two years, was released in a separate agreement negotiated by Qatar.
Trump administration officials had participated with Taliban representatives to ensure the release of Glezmann.
“The Taliban government agreed to free it as a gesture of goodwill for @potus and the American people,” Khalilzad said about Glezmann in a March 20 publication in X.
It was not part of an exchange of prisoners.
Glezmann was in the country in December 2022 on a five -day trip to “explore the cultural landscape and the rich history of the country,” according to a bill presented in the Senate that asks for his release.
He was arrested by the Taliban and retained without charge. Taliban officials in the intelligence department told NBC News that he thought it was a spy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan also said that the measure was a “gesture of goodwill” in an X publication at that time. In a statement, the Taliban said that the meeting between the officials of the United States and the Afghan was a “significant step for the reconstruction of diplomatic participation.”
The Taliban have been in control of Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, since August 2021, when he expelled the president backed by the United States, Ashraf Ghani, shortly after the chaotic withdrawal of the country’s US troops.
“Continuous discussions could pave the way for broader political and economic cooperation between the two countries,” added the Taliban statement at the beginning of this month.
The group has been anxious to participate again with foreign entities.
Two other Americans, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, were released from Afghanistan this year in an agreement arrived during the last days of the Biden administration in exchange for a member of the Talibanes being detained for the custody of the United States.
