By Eric Tucker and Rahim Faiez —
The Associated Press
An American contractor was released in Afghanistan after spending more than two years imprisoned by a Taliban group, in a prisoner exchange in which the United States handed over a drug trafficker, the White House confirmed in a statement on Monday.
Mark Frerichs is a Navy veteran who worked for over a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor until he
was kidnapped in January 2020
.
He is believed to have been held ever since by the
Haqqani
network ,
linked to the Taliban.
In exchange, Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban drug trafficker who said he had spent 17 years imprisoned in the United States, was released.
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This exchange, one of the most significant made by the Joe Biden government, was carried out despite the concern of the Frerichs family that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Afghan government could make his release difficult.
Mark Frerichs.Charlene Cakora via AP
Biden called the family on Monday to share the "good news," according to a White House official told The Associated Press news agency, also indicating that Noorzai's release was a "difficult decision" but, he added, necessary. .
“I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to join us.
Our family has prayed for him every day of the more than 31 months that he has been a hostage
.
We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safe and sound to us,” a sister of Frerichs, Charlene Cakora, said in a statement.
A drug dealer with a network in New York
Noorzai, who was arrested in 2005 on federal charges of trafficking heroin into the US, gave a news conference Monday in Afghanistan in which he said he had been released from one US prison, without specifying which one, and handed over that same day to the Taliban in Kabul as part of the exchange.
Noorzai was sentenced in 2009 to life in prison by a federal court in Manhattan.
The Department of Justice accused him of owning opium fields
in Kandahar province and to have a network of distributors in New York that sold heroin.
The Prosecutor's Office said that this global drug trafficking network supported the Taliban regime that turned Afghanistan into a breeding ground for international terrorism.
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Bashir Noorzai, addresses a press conference after his release, at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, September 19, 2022. Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
In the middle of leaving Afghanistan
Frerichs, 60, was working on civil engineering projects at the time of his kidnapping on January 31, 2020 in Kabul.
He was last seen in a video published last spring by The New Yorker magazine in which he appeared dressed in traditional Afghan clothing and called for his release.
The magazine said he obtained the clip from an unidentified individual in Afghanistan.
Attempts to achieve the contractor's release began with the Donald Trump Administration, but were unsuccessful.
Before taking over Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban demanded that the United States release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs.
But there was no sign that the US government was working on any kind of exchange.
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Eric Lebson, a former national security official who has been advising the Frerichs family, said in a statement that "
everything about this case has been an uphill battle
."
He criticized Trump for giving "our influence to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace deal with the Taliban without even asking them to return Mark first."
"Mark's family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people
saw Mark's safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan
," he said.
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The collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's seizure of power in August 2021 raised additional concerns that any progress made in the negotiations would be wiped out or that Frerichs would be forgotten.
But his name came to light last month when it emerged that Biden, who has publicly called for Frerichs' release, told aides to press officials to consider whether the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri could pose some risk to Frerichs.
The beginning of a new era between both countries
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also spoke at the Kabul press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it ushered in a "new era."
in relations with the US
"It can be a new chapter," he said, "this can open a new door for talks between the two countries."
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"This act shows us that all problems can be resolved through talks and I thank the teams on both sides who worked so hard to make this happen," he added.
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The Taliban also posted a short video on social media Monday showing Noorzai's arrival at Kabul airport, where he was greeted by Taliban officials, including Muttaqi.
At the press conference, Noorzai expressed his gratitude for seeing his "mujahideen brothers" in Kabul.
“I pray for more success for the Taliban,” he added.
"I hope that this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and the United States, because an American was freed and I am also free now."
___
Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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