By Alireza Hajihosseini, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN(CNN) — An American man who had been detained in Afghanistan by the Taliban since December 2024 has been released, the US State Department announced Sunday. The US does not have a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, having closed its embassy there after the Taliban takeover in August 2022. The circumstances of why Amiry was in Afghanistan or why he was detained aren’t clear. Hamdullah Fitrat, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban, said in a statement that US hostage envoy Adam Boehler met with Afghanistan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi on Sunday. There is hope that this release will be the first of more to come, the source said.