As a Pueblo-based man sits in isolated captivity at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan — a prisoner of the Taliban since last January — his family in the U.S. still does not know why he was detained, or when he will be able to come home.

On or about Jan. 26, 2025, Dennis Coyle, an academic researcher who has done linguistic work in Afghanistan for the better part of two decades, was forcefully taken from his apartment in Kabul, according to Coyle’s family. The Taliban has held him in near-solitary confinement ever since, despite the fact that he has not been charged with a crime.

“He has never been charged with anything,” said Molly Long, Coyle’s younger sister. “This is not someone who is dangerous, who has done something nefarious. This is a kind, gentle man.”

Coyle’s mother, Donna, and his three sisters, Molly Long, Amy Sessions and Patti McLaughlin, have been living in a constant state of uncertainty and fear for the past year as their son and brother languishes in a basement more than 7,000 miles from home. Coyle, 64, does not have access to adequate medical care and has to ask permission to use the bathroom, his family said.

“All his rights have been taken away,” Long told The Gazette. “He’s lonely, he misses his family, and he is worried about his 83-year-old mother.”

A career academic, Coyle traveled to Afghanistan in the early 2000s to conduct language research, according to his family. While there, he developed deep ties within the local community and an abiding affection for the Afghan people.

“Dennis has always embraced Afghan culture with genuine warmth — sharing cups of traditional green tea, enjoying dried fruit snacks, and engaging in the kind of heartfelt conversations that bridge cultures,” his family wrote on their website, freedenniscoyle.com. “His love for the Afghan people isn’t just professional; it’s personal and deeply felt.”

While working overseas, Coyle conscientiously maintained contact with his family back home, making weekly phone calls to his mother. When those calls stopped coming in, the family began to worry.

“We started reaching out to try to find out why we hadn’t heard from him,” Long said.

When they learned that their loved one had been taken prisoner by the Taliban — a regime not formally recognized as a legitimate government, with a reputation for severe human rights violations — Coyle’s family began to fear the worst.

“We were terrified, in shock and paralyzed,” Long said. “We did not get proof of life for six months, and we had no contact with him for nine months.”

For the first few months, Coyle’s family did not speak publicly about his captivity out of fear for his life.

“We didn’t know what to do, or how to do it,” Long said. “We thought it might hurt Dennis if we went.”

In recent months, as their desperation has grown, the family has engaged in a all-out effort to bring him home, regularly communicating with the State Department and other government officials and making public appeals through their website and social media.

“We will do anything to get our brother home,” Long said. “He has missed birthdays, holidays and everything else for a year. You can’t get that time back. Even more importantly, our mother is 83. Time is not on our side.”

Last June, the Trump administration officially declared Coyle “wrongfully detained” under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act. This designation expands the tools the government can use to help secure his release, his family said.

When President Donald Trump was asked about Coyle’s case in a recent interview, he said. “I’m not happy about (the Taliban) holding anybody, especially if he hasn’t done anything … I will certainly take a very strong position on it.”

Now that Trump knows Coyle’s name and has been informed of his situation, the family is hopeful that the president will help expedite Coyle’s release.

“We have been told by White House officials that President Trump’s No. 1 objective is to bring Americans home,” Long said. “We are very optimistic that this will happen for Dennis. The president knows my brother’s name, and that helps.”

It also helps to know that precedent is on Coyle’s side. About a week before he was detained, the Taliban released two Americans in a prisoner swap with the U.S.

In the meantime, Coyle’s family waits for the sporadic phone calls he is allowed and hopes we will be brought home safe — sooner rather than later.

“Our contact with him is at the whim of the Taliban,” Long said. “This has been an excruciating process. Our biggest concern for him is that he is isolated, with almost no human contact. That is difficult for him, because he loves people.”

“In a way, the Taliban is not just holding Dennis hostage; they are holding his family hostage as well,” said a family friend who asked not to be named. “They’ve been cut off from him, never knowing how he’s doing or what the outcome is going to be. It’s been a tough year for them.”