WASHINGTON — Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number freed by the country in the past two months, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Taken together, Kuwait’s pardons of 23 Americans since March — done as a goodwill gesture by the U.S. ally — amounted to the largest release of U.S. citizens by a single foreign country in years.

The prisoners, both men and women, include military contractors and veterans held on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation, including one who was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter.

Ten others were released in March, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Trump administration envoy Adam Boehler.

“We flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, ‘Listen, no one’s ever asked before at this level” for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP.

— The Associated Press