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2025-03-22 Home Front: WoT
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American freed by Taliban reunited in US with wife and former cellmate
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[IsraelTimes] George Glezmann, an American detained in Afghanistan for more than two years before being released by the Taliban, has arrived in the United States, where he reunites with his wife and is greeted by a welcoming party that included his former cellmate.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says Ryan Corbett, another former prisoner of the Taliban who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was at Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington, to greet Glezmann.
“After a brief ceremony, George and [his wife] Aleksandra flew to another location in the United States to rest and recover,” Bruce tells a regular State Department news briefing.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on Thursday confirming the release of Glezmann, who was detained in 2022 while visiting Kabul as a tourist.
A source tells Reuters he left Afghanistan aboard a Qatari aircraft on Thursday evening bound for Qatar, following direct talks between US hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Taliban officials in Kabul.
Bruce says the US is grateful for the support of the government of Qatar in bringing Glezmann home. She says the United Arab Emirates also played a role in facilitating the initial discussions.
In a statement, the Taliban calls Glezmann’s release a “goodwill gesture” reflecting its willingness to engage with the United States “on the basis of mutual respect and interests.”
Bruce says the United States remains “deeply concerned” about the well-being of Mahmood Habibi and other Americans still believed to be in custody in Afghanistan.
Thursday’s meeting in Kabul marked the highest-level direct US-Taliban talks since President Donald Trump came to power in January.
Boehler met with the Taliban administration’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Afghan foreign ministry says in a statement.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before Congress in 2023 that at least 175 Americans remain stranded in Afghanistan, though he didn’t divulge how many were being wrongfully detained by the Taliban.
“There are several Americans currently detained in Afghanistan, and we have been pressing the Taliban to return the remains of a deceased American,” a State Department spokesperson told The Post.
“We are deeply concerned about the well-being of Mahmood Habibi and all Americans detained in Afghanistan and actively working to bring them home. Due to the sensitivity of these cases, we have nothing further. We remind all Americans — do not travel to Afghanistan.”
Glezmann, an airline mechanic for Delta Air Lines, was visiting Afghanistan as a tourist in late 2022 and intended to spend five days in the country exploring its history and culture, according to his family. He was detained by the Taliban's intelligence service on Dec. 5 but was never charged with any crime or offense.
In September 2023, he was declared wrongfully detained by the Biden administration.
The Taliban jailed Glezmann in a 9-foot-by-9-foot cell with other detainees and sometimes held him in "solitary confinement and underground for months at a time," according to a resolution put forward by Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock from Glezmann's home state of Georgia.
While in custody, Glezmann also suffered from "from facial tumors, hypertension, severe malnutrition and other medical conditions" and experienced a rapid decline in his physical and mental health, per the senators.
Talks aimed at bringing Glezmann home have been happening on and off since shortly after his detention, according to U.S. officials.
Negotiators came close in January, when officials cut a deal to bring Americans Ryan Corbett and another U.S. national in a prisoner swap -- but the Taliban rejected efforts to include Glezmann in the exchange.
"Today is a good day. We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, Georg Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul," former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad posted on X following his release. "The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to @POTUS and the American people. George is on his way home to his family."
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-03-22 2025-03-22 03:17||
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File under: Taliban/IEA
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Posted by Muggsy and Company2746 2025-03-22 10:33||
2025-03-22 10:33||
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