Vienna announced that the national had secured his release through mediation by the Qatari government and had arrived in Doha.
The Taliban have released Herbert Fritz, 84, an Austrian far-right nationalist who was arrested in Afghanistan last May.
The Austrian government said in a statement on Sunday that Fritz' release was secured through mediation by the Qatari government and he arrived in Doha, Qatar, earlier in the day.
Fritz was arrested last year after defying Austria's longstanding warnings against traveling to Afghanistan, which returned to Taliban control in 2021.
When asked by reporters about his ordeal after arriving in Doha, he said, “I think it was bad luck, but I would like to visit again.''
“There were good people, but there were also stupid people, which is unfortunate,” Fritz added of the captors.
After his arrest, Austria's Der Standard newspaper reported that Fritz had traveled to Afghanistan and reported positively about life there. He published an article titled “Vacation with the Taliban” through far-right media.
This fueled the anti-immigrant argument that Afghanistan is a safe country for refugees to return to, the paper said.
According to Der Standard newspaper, the Taliban arrested him on suspicion of espionage, and Austrian neo-Nazis publicized his case through Telegram channels.
Austria's Foreign Ministry said it had been working since May to secure Fritz's release and thanked the European Union representatives in Qatar and Kabul for supporting efforts to bring him back to Austria. .
An Austrian ministry spokesperson told The Associated Press that Fritz is being held in a Kabul prison.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer wrote a piece for expressed.
“Thanks to our reliable cooperation, this Austrian national will be able to return home to his daughter and grandchildren,” Nehammer said.
Fritz was a founding member of the National Democratic Party (NDP), a far-right group that was banned in 1988, according to Der Standard and other media outlets.
Austria's far-right Freedom Party, which leads in opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year, had been pressing for Fritz's release. The party said he was researching books in Afghanistan.
Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed gratitude to the “Afghanistan Transitional Government” for releasing the Austrian.
“The State of Qatar has proven itself to be a reliable international partner on a variety of important issues, both regionally and globally,” the ministry said. “It will spare no effort to harness its energies and capabilities in the fields of mediation, preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution by peaceful means.”