https://arab.news/gmjtt
The Taliban administration in Afghanistan released US national Dennis Coyle on March 23 after he had been held captive for more than a year. This occurred just two weeks after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention. The designation is considered another serious blow to the ruling administration, with consequences for the country and its citizens at large.
With each new negative classification of Afghanistan — whether through visa bans, travel restrictions or other blacklisting — the major share of the burden is borne by ordinary Afghans, restricting their mobility and affecting their overall social standing and national reputation in the global community. Last September, an elderly British couple who had successfully operated a charity in Afghanistan for nearly two decades were freed after about seven months of incarceration.
Coyle, a linguistic researcher who spent nearly 17 years in Afghanistan, could have been treated more hospitably, in consistence with Islamic and Afghan traditions. Desperate for his freedom, his family had sent a letter to the Taliban’s supreme leader, appealing for Coyle’s release on the occasion of Eid Al‑Fitr. The decision to release him was both politically and religiously right, as well as timely.
