American woman held in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been released, AP source says

WASHINGTON — An American woman detained for weeks in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been released from custody, according to a person familiar with the matter and a social media post Saturday from a longtime U.S. diplomat.

Faye Dail Hall, who was detained in February on charges of using a drone without authorization, was released as part of a deal that Qatari negotiators helped broker, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The person said that Hall was taken to the Qatari Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan capital, and was in good health, and that arrangements were being made for her to return to the U.S.

In a post on X, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, confirmed Hall's release with a photograph of her and said she would “soon be on her way home.” He posted that she was “now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home.”

Few details about Hall's case or the release were immediately available Saturday, including why she was in Afghanistan or how long or the circumstances of her detention. The State Department did not immediately comment.

Hall is believed to be the fourth American released from Afghanistan since January.

Earlier this month, George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was freed after more than two years in custody. That release follows a separate deal, executed on the final day of the Biden administration and also mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty.

Officials in Kabul said recently that the U.S. had lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister, who also heads a powerful network blamed for attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government.

A Foreign Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, has said the Taliban’s release of Glezmann and the removal of bounties showed both sides were “moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress” in bilateral relations.