Taliban ally and US contractor freed in prisoner swap

First modification: 09/19/2022 – 17:35

The United States and Kabul reached a prisoner release agreement, an exchange announced with great fanfare by the Taliban government, which organized a press conference with the foreign minister and the released prisoner.

Haji Bashir Noorzaian important ally of the Islamist group since its creation in 1994, and who became one of its main donors, commented that he was imprisoned “17 years and six months” in an unidentified prison in the United States, although state media in the country Asian reported that he was one of the last Afghans incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay.

Noorzai described how he was handed over early to the Taliban in Kabul by US authorities in exchange for the release of an American prisoner later identified as the engineer Mark Frerichs.

“It would have been impossible for me to have been released from a life sentence without the firm determination and efforts of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban government),” he stressed, while wishing for a rapprochement between Afghanistan and the United States, one of the many countries that have refused to recognize the Taliban Executive, reinstated after taking power in Kabul on August 15, 2021.

The Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, expressed himself in the same vein, describing the exchange as the possible beginning of “a new era” in relations between the two countries.

According to Muttaqi, the “remaining problems” with the United States and the international community can now be settled “through negotiation.”

Noorzai, an influential Afghan tribal leader, had opium fields in Kandahar, in the south of the country, and was very close to the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Mohamed Omar. In April 2005 he was arrested while traveling to the United States and was sentenced in 2009 to life in prison, after being found guilty of introducing more than 50 million dollars in heroin into the North American country. His lawyers always denied those charges.

The United States recovers its last prisoner in Afghanistan

Although the Biden Administration handled the matter with a low profile, the family of Mark Frerichs confirmed his release as part of the prisoner exchange with Afghanistan.

In a statement, Charlene Cakora, Frerichs’ sister and an Illinois resident, thanked US officials for securing the rescue.

“I am so happy to know that my brother is safe and on his way home with us. Our family has prayed for this every day of the 31+ months he has been held hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home.” safe and sound with us,” he said.

A senior US official, quoted anonymously by the AP agency, said that President Joe Biden personally called the family on Monday morning to confirm “the good news” and that, for the White House, it was a “difficult decision.” pardon Noorzai but necessary to ensure the welfare of an American citizen.

According to the Reuters agency, another high-ranking official of the Biden Administration confirmed that the contractor is in stable condition after regaining his freedom.

Frerichs, a 60-year-old veteran of the United States Armed Forces, was working on civil engineering projects when he was kidnapped on January 31, 2020 in Kabul. He had last been seen in a video published by ‘The New Yorker’ magazine on April 1, in which he called for his release.

The contractor was considered the last US prisoner in Afghanistan.

A family adviser criticizes Donald Trump

Until Monday, two presidential administrations had tried to free Frerichs, without success, and the departure of US troops from Afghanistan had cast doubt on the possibility of protecting the kidnapped veteran.

However, Biden, who in January had demanded his release and had warned that he would never recognize the Taliban government if this did not happen, mentioned his name again last month, before carrying out the drone attack that killed the leader. of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawhari. According to reports, the president insisted that his officials consider whether this offensive represented any risk to Frerichs’ life.

In a separate statement, Eric Lebson, a former Homeland Security official advising the contractor’s family, noted that the case “has been an uphill battle” and criticized former President Donald Trump for agreeing to 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 questioned.

The Biden Administration thus completes one of its most significant prisoner exchanges of its administration, five months after reaching an agreement with Russia that led to the release of former Marine Trevor Reed.

With AP, Reuters and EFE