Taliban release US hostage on ‘humanitarian grounds’ as Islamic State boasts that Trump won’t act against Taliban

The Taliban seem ready to cooperate with the Trump administration, freeing Glezmann without insisting on a prisoner exchange. The Islamic State in Afghanistan, however, paints a markedly different picture: “ISKP Magazine Responds To Trump’s Statements On Bagram Base, U.S. Weapons Left In Afghanistan: ‘No [U.S.] Aid Has Been Stopped, No Weapons Will Be Seized, And Trump Will Not Take Any Action Against The [Afghan Taliban] Militia,'” MEMRI, March 19, 2025.

This is noteworthy in that the Islamic State’s braggadocio seems entirely unjustified by the facts. Also, if the MEMRI report is correct, the Islamic State is not nearly as antagonistic to the Taliban as the establishment foreign policy “experts” and media have insisted.

“Taliban release an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan,” by Eric Tucker, Associated Press, March 20, 2025:

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped broker, the State Department said Thursday.

George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained the following year.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Glezmann was on his way back to the United States to be reunited with his wife, Aleksandra, and praised Qatar for “steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts” that he said were “instrumental in securing George’s release.”

“George’s release is a positive and constructive step,” Rubio said. “It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.”…

…the U.S. did not give up any prisoner to secure Glezmann’s release, which was done as a goodwill gesture, according to an official briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Glezmann’s release on “humanitarian grounds.” In a statement, it said the “Islamic Emirate again reaffirms its longstanding position that dialogue, understanding and diplomacy provide effective avenues for resolving all issues.”

President Joe Biden contemplated before he left office an earlier proposal that would have involved the release of Glezmann and other Americans for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But Biden told families during a call in January that he would not support trading Rahim unless the Taliban released Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and vanished in 2022….