WASHINGTON — An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for greater than two years by the Taliban has been launched, his household stated Monday, as a Taliban drug lord jailed by the United States was additionally freed and returned to Kabul.
Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent greater than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was kidnapped in January 2020 and was believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani community.
Negotiations for his launch had centered on a deal that may additionally contain the discharge of Bashir Noorzai, a infamous drug lord and member of the Taliban who advised reporters in Kabul on Monday that he had spent 17 years and 6 months in U.S. captivity earlier than being launched.
The trade is without doubt one of the most vital prisoner swaps to happen underneath the Biden administration, coming 5 months after a separate take care of Russia that resulted within the launch of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. It happened regardless of issues from his household and different advocates that the U.S. army departure from Afghanistan, and the collapse of the federal government there, might make it tougher to deliver him residence and will deflect consideration away from his imprisonment.
President Joe Biden, who’s within the U.Ok. to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, referred to as Frerichs’s household on Monday morning to share the “good news” that his administration was in a position to safe his launch, in line with a senior administration official.
The official, who was not licensed to remark publicly and spoke on the situation of anonymity, referred to as the choice to grant Noorzai clemency a “difficult decision” however mandatory so as to reunite a U.S. citizen along with his household.
A sister of Frerichs, who’s from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. authorities officers who helped safe her brother’s launch.
“I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us,” stated a press release from the sister, Charlene Cakora.
In Afghanistan, Noorzai advised reporters at a press convention that he had been launched from an unspecified U.S. jail and handed over earlier within the day to the Taliban in Kabul, in trade for an American prisoner held in Afghanistan whom he didn’t establish. Frerichs’ household subsequently confirmed that it was him.
Frerichs, 60, had been engaged on civil engineering tasks on the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. He was final seen in a video posted final spring by The New Yorker i n which he appeared in conventional Afghan clothes and pleaded for his launch. The publication stated it obtained the clip from an unidentified particular person in Afghanistan.
Until Monday, U.S. officers throughout two presidential administrations had tried unsuccessfully to get him residence. Even earlier than their takeover of Afghanistan in August final yr, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. launch Noorzai in trade for Frerichs. But there had been no public signal of Washington continuing with any type of commerce or trade alongside these strains.
Eric Lebson, a former U.S. authorities nationwide safety official who had been advising Frerichs’ household, stated in a press release that “everything about this case has been an uphill fight.” He criticized the Trump administration for having given away “our leverage to get Mark residence rapidly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban with out ever having requested them to return Mark first.
“Mark’s family then had to navigate two Administrations, where many people viewed Mark’s safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan,” the assertion stated.
The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan authorities and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021, raised further concern that any progress in negotiations may very well be undone or that Frerichs may very well be forgotten.
But his title surfaced final month when President Joe Biden, who had publicly referred to as for Frerichs’ launch, was stated by his advisers to have pressed officers to contemplate any threat posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri.
The Taliban-appointed international minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, additionally spoke on the Kabul press convention alongside Noorzai and welcomed the trade, saying it marked the beginning of a “new era” in U.S.-Taliban relations.
“This can be a new chapter between Afghanistan and the United States, this can open a new door for talks between both countries,” Muttaqi stated on the presser.
“This act shows us that all problems can be solved through talks and I thank both sides’ teams who worked so hard for this to happen,” he added.
The Taliban additionally posted a quick video Monday on social media displaying Noorzai’s arrival on the Kabul airport the place he was welcomed by high Taliban officers, together with Muttaqi.
At the press convention, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his “mujahedeen brothers” — a reference to the Taliban — in Kabul.
“I pray for more success of the Taliban,” he added. “I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now.”
___
Source: www.bostonherald.com”