US man released after being kidnapped by the Taliban for 2 and a half years.

On Thursday (March 20), the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that George Glezmann, a mechanic for Delta Airlines and a US citizen, has been released by the Taliban and is on his way back to the United States. Glezmann was kidnapped at the end of 2022 while traveling in Afghanistan.

Pompeo stated that after being detained in Afghanistan for two and a half years, Glezmann is on his way back and will soon be reunited with his wife.

The Secretary of State expressed gratitude to Qatar for their assistance in securing Glezmann’s release.

“We express our deepest gratitude to the nation of Qatar, whose steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts played a crucial role in ensuring George Glezmann’s release. Qatar has proven to be a reliable partner and a trustworthy mediator, facilitating complex negotiations,” Pompeo said.

He also mentioned that while Glezmann’s release is a positive and constructive step, there are still other Americans being detained in Afghanistan.

“President Trump will continue his relentless efforts to secure the release of all unjustly detained American citizens around the world,” he added.

At the end of 2022, Glezmann was captured by the Taliban intelligence agency and was later determined by the US government to have been wrongly detained.

According to the Associated Press, Glezmann returned to the US with the accompaniment of Adam Boehler, President Trump’s hostage negotiator, via Doha, the capital of Qatar. The Afghan Taliban authorities revealed on Thursday that Boehler held talks with a delegation including Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on the issue of hostages.

Currently, most countries still do not recognize the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan. The release of Glezmann is part of what the Taliban previously referred to as “normalizing” relations with the United States.

Glezmann is the third American to be released by the Taliban since President Trump took office. The previous two were Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, who were released from Afghanistan on the night of Trump’s inauguration.

Officials from the Trump administration confirmed at that time that the release of Corbett and McKenty was part of an agreement reached with the Taliban just before the end of the Biden administration, in exchange for the US releasing Taliban prisoner Khan Mohammed.