ATLANTA — George Glezmann, the Atlanta man wrongfully detained in Afghanistan for more than two years, has been freed and is on his way back to the United States, Channel 2 Action News learned Thursday.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
The Taliban released Glezmann, and he flew with an American diplomat to Qatar. From there, he will fly to Washington, D.C., on Friday then on to Atlanta.
“I can’t wait to see George and help him on his road to recovery as we rebuild our lives,” said his wife, Aleksandra Glezmann. “We are forever grateful to President Trump for bringing George home. Since the first day of the Trump Administration, his team has focused on securing George’s safe release. The skill and dedication demonstrated by Secretary Rubio, Mr. Waltz and Mr. Boehler has been refreshing. It is clear to us that their dedication to the American people is unwavering.”
Family attorney Dennis Fitzpatrick confirmed to Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that Glezmann’s release had been the subject of intense negotiations in recent weeks with the Taliban and that President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz have all been personally involved in overseeing those discussions.
Special presidential envoy Adam Boehler was point man in the negotiations, Fitzpatrick said. Boehler personally went to Afghanistan and traveled home with George Glezmann.
Never-before aired video showed George Glezmann while in captivity in late 2023.
“I feel like I want I just want to go home,” he said in the video. “This has been too much. This has been a nightmare.”
It was taken around Christmas of that year, the second one he spent wrongfully detained by the Taliban. He would spend one more Christmas as a captive, and by that time his physical and emotional state had deteriorated dramatically - so much so that his life was endangered.
Now he’s free - freedom that potentially saved his life, says George Taylor, a retired federal agent who worked for years on the Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“I was just really overwhelmed and extremely grateful and appreciative to the president of the United States,” he said.
Taylor told Channel 2 that for more than two years he’s helped Glezmann’s wife, Aleksandra, and Fitzpatrick’s fight for George Glezmann’s release, attending meetings with high-level U.S. officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations.
Taylor said Wednesday night he learned a plane for Glezmann had taken off from Qatar, a country that played in key role in brokering negotiations between the Taliban and the U.S. That plane was headed to the airport in Kabul, and he found out before that plane had left the ground to return that Glezmann was aboard and free.
Taylor says he’s heading to the D.C. area, where he expects Glezmann to be reunited with his wife, and Taylor will meet the man he’s worked so hard to free for the first time.
Last year, a family representative told Winne, who has been covering Glezmann’s story for months, that he believed Glezmann, then a Delta Airlines mechanic on vacation, did everything he could to follow the letter of the law to enter Afghanistan as a tourist in December 2022. Fitzpatrick said he was detained with two days of his arrival.
The lawyer said Glezmann was passionate about exploring foreign cultures and had visited more than 100 countries, often using his airline travel benefits.
Winne received the following statement from Glezmann’s wife Aleksandra.
“I can’t wait to see George and help him on his road to recovery as we rebuild our lives. We are forever grateful to President Trump for bringing George home. Since the first day of the Trump administration, his team has focused on securing George’s safe release. The skill and dedication demonstrated by Secretary Rubio, Mr. Waltz and Mr. Boehler has been refreshing. It is clear to us that their dedication to the American people is unwavering. "
RELATED STORIES:
- 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
Aleksandra Glezmann told Channel 2 in January that she got a call from a senior Trump administration official expected to play a key role in negotiations for Americans held hostage, only two days after President Donald Trump took office.
“This just highlighted his commitment to my husband’s case. And I’m really grateful for that,” Aleksandra Glezmann said.
She said in the days before former President Joe Biden left office, the State Department called and said negotiations had ended without a deal to bring her husband home.
In the waning hours of the Biden presidency, the administration called Aleksandra Glezmann and told her that Ryan Corbett, who had been her husband’s cellmate, was coming home along with another American in a prisoner swap.
“I feel really misled by the previous administration. But I’m still really hopeful because I know that Trump’s administration will deal with my husband’s case differently,” Aleksandra Glezmann said.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group.
