Latest news with #Glezmann
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Atlanta man held captive by Taliban talks of being beaten for not renouncing Catholic faith
An Atlanta man freed from Taliban captivity in March is talking about what it was like to be held hostage in Afghanistan. George Glezmann said that for more than two years, he was regularly beaten by his captors for refusing to renounce his Roman Catholic faith. 'They would come as often as they could, you know, very often, they would come in and kick me or slap me,' Glezmann told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne. Glezmann said he frequently refused to trade his faith for his freedom during the roughly two years and four months the Taliban wrongfully detained him in Kabul, Afghanistan. 'I'm a Catholic, Roman Catholic. And the first thing that we human beings do when we feel in trouble is to pray to God,' Glezmann said. Glezmann said he faced near constant pressure by his captors to convert to Islam, not only in the form of physical abuse -- ranging from beatings to buckets of cold water in the icy Afghan winter -- But also with the promise of freedom. 'They would come in and try to get me to convert. If you convert to Islam, we're going to release you in two days,' Glezmann said he was told. RELATED STORIES: Atlanta man captured by Taliban is released after more than 2 years Wife of Atlanta man taken hostage by Taliban says US has resources to bring him home by Christmas Atlanta man wrongfully held by Taliban for 2 years sends new plea for release to Biden There is new hope as family pleads for release of Atlanta man held by Taliban, advisor says Diplomat met with GA man held by Taliban in Afghanistan, found him in poor condition Family of Atlanta man being held hostage in Afghanistan urging President Biden to meet with them Glezmann said he doesn't know if the Taliban would truly have released him if he converted. He said those were likely false promises, except at the very end of his captivity when the Trump administration gained his release. 'Sometimes the guards would hear noise in the room because I'm walking. And they would come in and open the door and see me praying, and they would be like, 'No, no, no, no. Pray like this. Don't pray like this,'' Glezmann said. Glezmann said he wants to be very clear to his Muslim friends. 'I respect their faith, and they respect mine,' Glezmann said. He does not believe that most who follow Islam agree with the approach taken towards him by the Taliban. 'They believe they're the true Muslims,' Glezmann said. Glezmann said he was a Delta Air Lines mechanic with an Anthropology degree who had visited 133 other countries to explore their cultures when he traveled by ground into Afghanistan from Pakistan and had begun to explore the streets of Kabul when he was taken by the Taliban. 'They beat me, they dragged me to the side of the street, they cuffed me,' Glezmann said. Glezmann said he detested the beard he wore in a video shot near the second of his three Christmases in captivity, and his captors told him it would be a sin if they allowed him to cut it off. Though he did so months before his release. At his low points, with his physical and emotional health deteriorating, Glezmann said he wondered why God had not delivered him like his cellmate, American Ryan Corbett, who was released near the very end of the Biden administration. But in the end, his prayers and those of his wife Aleksandra, were answered when special presidential envoy Adam Boehler and a case officer embraced him. 'I felt like a kid when he gets lost in a crowd in a shopping center or something. And suddenly your father finds you and takes you up and hugs you and you feel safe, you feel home again,' Glezmann said. 'Your father above never lost you?' Winne asked Glezmann. 'That's correct. My Father above in heaven,' Glezmann said. Glezman said he has forgiven his captors and, in the process, helped himself heal. He said his captors eventually allowed phone calls to his wife, which were critical to his survival, and medical visits. Glezman said he will continue to travel because it's such an important part of his life, but he won't be going to any more dangerous places like Afghanistan.
Express Tribune
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
A new great game in Afghanistan?
In the old and new Great Game, Afghanistan has held a central position. Peter Hopkirk, in his pathbreaking book The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, chronicled the 19th-century geopolitical chessboard involving Britain and Russia. To prevent an armed conflict between British India and the Russian empire, both powers decided to declare Afghanistan as a buffer state – until the end of the Cold War reshaped Central, South, and West Asian dynamics. Following the complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, and the re-assumption of power by Taliban, the conflict-ridden country plunged into a legitimacy crisis, reflecting a coercive order in which political pluralism and emancipation of women became major casualties. Now, almost four years down the road, the United States, under the new Trump administration, is again to re-establish its influence in Afghanistan by seeking control of the strategic Bagram air base. For the first time after August 2021, a high-powered US delegation led by veteran Afghanistan expert Zalmay Khalilzad visited Kabul in March, ostensibly to negotiate the release of detained American tourist George Glezmann. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Khalilzad and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler held talks with Afghanistan's Foreign Minister and other Taliban officials. According to reports, the Taliban's Foreign Ministry stated that Mr Glezmann's release was "on humanitarian grounds" and "a goodwill gesture", while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the deal a "positive and constructive step". Qatar facilitated the American delegation's visit to Kabul and mediated Glezmann's release. In a post on X, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry added that the deal showed "Afghanistan's readiness to genuinely engage all sides, particularly the United States of America, on the basis of mutual respect and interests". Why is there a relative thaw in the US-Taliban relations? Will the Taliban regime hand over Bagram airbase to the United States? What are the implications of this recent shift for Pakistan and the wider region? President Trump had earlier criticised the Biden administration's chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, calling it incompetent and claiming that it compromised US national security interests, particularly by leaving around 80 billion dollars of weapons and abandoning Bagram air base. After resuming power in January 2025, President Trump now resolves to regain influence in Afghanistan without the use of hard power. The nature of the projected deal between the Trump administration and the Taliban, and whether Washington will extend diplomatic recognition to Kabul, remains to be seen. While countries like India, Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan maintain low-key de facto ties with the Taliban, Kabul still lacks diplomatic and political legitimacy. Unlike Presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, who ruled Afghanistan for two decades with the US-Nato support and at least a semblance of democracy, the Taliban's interim government rejects political pluralism, democracy and exclusive mode of governance. By barring girls and women from education and depriving half the population of their legitimate human rights, the Taliban have reverted to policies like their previous regime from 1996-2001. Even then, some countries, including the United States, are attempting to re-engage with Kabul to protect their strategic and economic interests. This signals a new phase of the Great Game in Afghanistan, reflective of a 200-year history of invasions, interventions, and occupations by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. The new Great Game can be analysed from three angles. First, Afghanistan is infamous as a geopolitical trap that lures a potential aggressor, and once the country is occupied by a foreign power, it launches resistance. History has witnessed Britain, the Soviet Union and the US, all experiencing this fate. Foreign occupation has never been possible without local support, and it is well known that Afghan loyalty can be bought. After 9/11, millions of dollars were used to buy the loyalty of Afghan tribal chiefs who deserted Taliban leading to the Taliban's collapse. This time, the new Great Game is employing a similar strategy as Trump seeks control of Afghanistan, particularly its strategic Bagram airbase, by offering carrots to the Taliban. In the coming weeks, increased American involvement in Afghanistan is expected via soft power: aid, investments and diplomacy. Second, Trump's core objective in reclaiming the Bagram airbase is to gain strategic leverage over Iran and Pakistan. Notably, it was from Bagram airbase that US Navy SEALs sneaked into Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, to get hold of global terrorist Osama bin Laden. In the wake of Khalilzad's mission to Kabul, alarmist conspiracy theories also suggest that the US may use Bagram as a base to intervene in Pakistan if political instability threatens its nuclear arsenal, to ensure that it does not reach Islamist forces. While these claims can be rejected, the timing of America's demand for Bagram base from the Taliban is significant. Since long, questions have been raised about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons in case there is an internal upheaval. Pakistan's nuclear control and command hierarchy has ruled out any threats to the safety and security of its nuclear arsenal. The Taliban government's reaction to the US demand for Bagram airbase for strategic use remains to be seen. Critics point to the unreliability of the Taliban regime in Kabul and its perceived anti-Pakistan stance. The growing Indo-US nexus may influence the Taliban to allow Washington to take control of Bagram air base. In return, the US may help end the Taliban's diplomatic isolation and possibly hand over the 80 billion dollars worth of weapons left behind during the 2021 withdrawal as a gift to Kabul. Additionally, the US might offer maintenance for these advanced weapons, thereby augmenting the Taliban's military power. Third, the resurgence of the new Great Game in Afghanistan is now a reality which poses fresh challenges for Pakistan in days to come. For that purpose, Pakistan must stabilise its internal affairs to deal with new strategic equation between Taliban and the US.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘An indescribable feeling': After 2 years held hostage by Taliban, George Glezmann is back home
An American hostage that was freed last month from the Taliban in Afghanistan is now back home. George Glezmann arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 5 p.m. Tuesday evening, and Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne was there to greet him. Glezmann was abducted by the Taliban in 2022 while on vacation in Kabul and held prisoner there until a month ago. The freed hostage said he feels 'gratitude and emotion' being back home here in Atlanta. RELATED STORIES: 'Through hell and back': Atlanta man held by Taliban for 2 years returns to US, reunites with wife Wife of Atlanta man being held by Taliban hoping Trump administration can bring husband home Wife of Atlanta man taken hostage by Taliban says US has resources to bring him home by Christmas There is new hope as family pleads for release of Atlanta man held by Taliban, advisor says 'An indescribable feeling of being home, being protected, being back where I belong,' Glezmann told Winne. He said his family's support is one of the things that got him through the last couple of years. 'My wife ... was there for me every single minute,' Glezmann said. Glezmann is a mechanic for Delta Air Lines, who also helped bring him home. He said that he is not only thankful for them, but also President Donald Trump and others in the administration that helped get him freed from the Taliban. 'They never gave up until they brought me home,' Glezmann said. Winne has been reporting on Glezmann's capture since it happened. Glezmann thanked him for keeping his name in the news and not giving up on him.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
American freed by Taliban reunited with wife, former cellmate, in US
By Patricia Zengerle and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) - George Glezmann, an American detained in Afghanistan for more than two years before being released by the Taliban, arrived in the United States on Friday, where he reunited with his wife and was greeted by a welcoming party that included his former cellmate. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said 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 told a regular State Department news briefing. U.S. 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 told Reuters he left Afghanistan aboard a Qatari aircraft on Thursday evening bound for Qatar, following direct talks between U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Taliban officials in Kabul. Bruce said the U.S. is grateful for the support of the government of Qatar in bringing Glezmann home. She said the United Arab Emirates also played a role in facilitating the initial discussions. In a statement, the Taliban called Glezmann's release a "goodwill gesture" reflecting its willingness to engage with the United States "on the basis of mutual respect and interests." Bruce said 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 U.S.-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 said in a statement.
Reuters
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
American freed by Taliban reunited with wife, former cellmate, in US
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - George Glezmann, an American detained in Afghanistan for more than two years before being released by the Taliban, arrived in the United States on Friday, where he reunited with his wife and was greeted by a welcoming party that included his former cellmate. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said 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 told a regular State Department news briefing. U.S. 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 told Reuters he left Afghanistan aboard a Qatari aircraft on Thursday evening bound for Qatar, following direct talks between U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Taliban officials in Kabul. Bruce said the U.S. is grateful for the support of the government of Qatar in bringing Glezmann home. She said the United Arab Emirates also played a role in facilitating the initial discussions. In a statement, the Taliban called Glezmann's release a "goodwill gesture" reflecting its willingness to engage with the United States "on the basis of mutual respect and interests." Bruce said 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 U.S.-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 said in a statement.
