After more than two years in captivity in Afghanistan, the Taliban released American hostage George Glezmann on Thursday following negotiations between the Trump administration and Qatari officials, a diplomatic source familiar with the release told Fox News Digital.
“Glezmann departed the Kabul airport Wednesday evening local time on his way to Doha where he will then be met by U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler along with a team from the Qatari Foreign Ministry,” Fox News Digital reports. “The release of the 65-year-old American, abducted while visiting Kabul as a tourist on Dec. 5, 2022, comes after Boehler met with officials from the Afghan foreign ministry alongside Qatari officials.”
While Qatar has maintained diplomatic relations with Afghanistan following the 2021 Taliban takeover, the U.S. has not.
The diplomatic source confirmed that Glezmann’s release was done as a “goodwill gesture” by the Taliban as an indication of “trust” in Qatar’s continued role as intermediary between Washington and Kabul.
The exchange differs from the release of two other Americans freed earlier this year, including Ryan Corbett and William Mckenty, who were released in exchange for a Taliban member in U.S. custody in a final hour deal struck by the Biden administration.
The Trump administration has been on a roll lately in getting hostages returned. Marc Fogel, who had been detained in Russia since 2021, was returned to the United States in February and was a guest at Trump’s speech to Congress earlier this month, as was an American citizen held in Belarus. Six Americans detained in Venezuela were also returned last month.
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Donald Trump is also making far more significant progress in securing the release of hostages held in Gaza than we saw from Joe Biden. In a powerful display of resolve, Trump warned Hamas that there would be severe consequences if they failed to meet the terms of the ceasefire agreement. His blunt rhetoric, which included a chilling threat to “let hell break out” if the hostages were not released on schedule, seems to have had a tangible effect, prompting Hamas to follow through on the release of Israeli hostages. This development raises questions about why the Biden administration didn’t adopt a similarly forceful approach earlier.
It’s hard to ignore the contrast with Joe Biden’s past claims of working “around the clock” to secure the release of hostages in Gaza when little progress had been made. The last hostage freed under his administration was Abigail Naftali, the great-niece of Democratic donor Liz Hirsh Naftali, who also purchased Hunter Biden’s artwork. After that, nothing. This solitary success stands in stark contrast to the ongoing plight of many American hostages still held captive.
Biden’s indifference to the hostage crisis was striking. By contrast, Trump’s frustration was palpable as he discussed the release of hostages, describing their condition as reminiscent of “old pictures of Holocaust survivors.” His comments reflect a level of urgency and moral outrage that Americans can easily relate to, something noticeably absent during Biden’s tenure.
I’ve never believed that Biden was genuinely concerned about the hostage crisis. It looked like he was more about appeasing the antisemitic wing of the Democratic Party than actually securing the release of hostages.
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