Afghanistan: Taliban releases Austrian activist after months of captivity

After spending nine months in detention in Afghanistan, a far-right fanatic from Austria who went there allegedly to demonstrate that it was a safe country was freed on Sunday.

After being released by Taliban officials, Herbert Fritz, 84, who has strong ties to far-right extremist groups, landed in Doha, Qatar, according to Austrian media.

Fritz was taken into custody in May for violating Austria’s long-standing advisory against visiting Afghanistan, which was taken over by the Taliban in 2021 and enforced their harsh version of Islam.

“I think it was bad luck but I want to visit again,” he told reporters on arrival in Doha, when asked about his ordeal.

“There were some nice people but there were some foolish people also, I’m sorry,” Fritz added, describing his captors.

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Fritz may get medical attention in Doha before returning home, according to Austrian authorities, who also hailed Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf state, for helping to secure his release.

A request for comment was not answered by the interior or foreign ministries of the Taliban regime.

Fritz’s love was traveling to “dangerous” locations, such as Afghanistan in the 1980s and eastern Ukraine more recently, according to the Austrian tabloid Der Standard.

Fritz visited Afghanistan in an attempt to demonstrate that the the country was safe under Taliban rule, and he wrote an article headlined “Vacations with the Taliban” for a far-right media source.

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According to Der Standard, he was taken into custody soon after on espionage-related charges. The publication also stated that such travelogues may have been an attempt to present Afghanistan as a secure nation to which Afghan refugees could be repatriated.

Fritz previously visited Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is incarcerated in Turkey, according to Austrian media.

He allegedly also paid members from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) de facto army, a visit to the northeastern region of Syria, home to the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration.

Turkey sees the YPG as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which many of its Western supporters and Ankara have classified as a terrorist organization.