On March 29th, an American woman, who had been detained for weeks in Afghanistan by the Taliban, was released from custody. Faye Dail Hall, the women who was Detained in February, was held on charges of using a drone without authorization. With the help of Qatari negotiators, she was released as part of the brokered deal. There are still little detailed on how long she was held or the circumstances of her detention under the Taliban, and the State Department continues to withhold comments. Hall is not the only detainie that has been released by the Taliban this year, as she is believed to be the fourth American released since January. WIthin the recent months, in connection to possible softening of relations between the Taliban and the U.S., the U.S. lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures. A Foreign Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, comments on the AP article saying, the Taliban’s release of Glezman 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.”
This returning of the detained Faye Dail Hall is not just a gesture of a possible detainie switch, but a long-going process of warming relations between the Taliban and the U.S. While U.S. Taliban relations have not been good in the past, as seen through the Afghanistan War that lasted about 20 years with U.S. forces occupying much of the territory in the fight against the Taliban. With these increase detainee released, it is irresponsible to think of it as just a jester or goodwill, these prisoner exchanges or detainee releases always have political backing or malice behind them. It will be interesting to see if in this switch of administration, in which has led to a shift in many foreign relations, will affect in the later, the relationship between the Taliban and the United States. I would go even as far to say that, maybe not directly from the United States, other countries of great standing begin to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, that way human rights violations or concerns of the actions of the government transform into legitimate governmental violations against the people, thus making it slightly easier to possibly influence said government.
The current regime of Afghanistan is under the Taliban’s rule, gaining power after the U.S.’s withdrawal in 2021, causing many concerns from the international community on the basis of human rights violations. A Regime sets the fundamental rules and norms of the state regarding last government individual freedom, collective equality, the focus of power, and the use of that power. Regimes are often the easiest to change within a government, with a shift in a party or political group can cause an entity change of a regime. It will be interesting to see the Talibans and U.S.s future relations, whether it is on the basis of overall continuing to ensure the safety of Americans in Afghanistan, or if it will extend to trade relations or even warming of relations for the possibility of trading.