One Year in Taliban Custody: What We Know About Dennis Walter Coyle
Reporter Arshad Mehmood lays out a stark, human-scale case of hostage-style detention in Taliban-run Afghanistan: Dennis Walter Coyle, a 64-year-old US citizen and longtime Afghanistan-based researcher, has spent a year in Taliban custody with no formal charges and no known access to any court process. Arrested in Kabul on January 26, 2025 while researching Pashto, Coyle is described by informed sources as being held in near-solitary confinement by a Taliban counterintelligence unit that focuses on foreign nationals.
In June 2025, the US government designated Coyle “wrongfully detained” under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, a step meant to elevate coordination for his release. His sister, Molly Long, has described months without proof he was alive, and she has publicly urged executive action by President Trump to bring him home.
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Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Media Line that Americans are detained for “violations” of Afghan law and said talks are underway through diplomatic and internal channels, without naming detainees. A former Afghan intelligence official, speaking anonymously, described Coyle as a “valuable asset” and framed the detentions as leverage designed to extract political or financial concessions—pointing to past negotiated releases as precedent. Claims that Coyle was moved to Kandahar remain unverified.
Analysts quoted in the piece argue the pattern resembles hostage diplomacy more than law enforcement, with comparisons to Iranian tactics and a regional security lens that treats such detentions as calculated pressure on Washington. Read the full account from Mehmood for the sourcing, the timeline, and the competing claims.
