Washington D.C. – The Pueblo Chieftain, Mar. 20, 2026
Four hundred and seventeen days — as of March 20, that’s how long a Pueblo man has been held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan after being detained without charges last January.
Dennis Coyle, a Pueblo resident, was in Afghanistan conducting academic research of Afghan languages when he was detained on Jan. 27, 2025, by the Taliban General Intelligence Directorate.
“My brother is incredibly intelligent and incredibly compassionate,” said Molly Long, Coyle’s sister, in an interview with the Chieftain. “So (his work is) merging those two worlds where he is a linguist, and using these skills that are very long-term in project scope, and wanting to use those skills to help a people group that needs a lot of help.”
Coyle had been studying language in Afghanistan for 15 years. Long said her brother was back in the United States for 18 months after the August 2021 withdrawal of U.S. military forces from the country, but ultimately determined that his work could not be completed stateside.
With assurances of support for Westerners doing research and aid projects in the country from the new, Taliban-led Afghan government, Coyle returned to Afghanistan.
