On Monday, the United States (US) conducted a prisoner exchange with the Taliban to secure the release of US Navy veteran and engineer Mark Frerichs, who was held captive for 31 months in Afghanistan, in exchange for convicted Afghan drug lord Bashir Noorzai, who was serving a life sentence in the US.
US President Joe Biden hailed Frerichs’ release as the “culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments.” “Bringing the negotiations that led to Mark’s freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly,” he admitted, without specifically mentioning Noorzai’s release. “Our priority now is to make sure Mark receives a healthy and safe return and is given the space and time he needs to transition back into society,” he underscored.
Mark Frerichs is coming home after two and half years in captivity in Afghanistan. Thank you to our diplomats, national security professionals, and partners in Qatar for your work to secure his release.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 19, 2022
Similarly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Frerichs’ release was the “result of intense engagement with the Taliban.”
During a background press call, two senior Biden administration officials revealed that freeing Frerichs was spoken about with the Taliban at “every opportunity,” saying, “We’ve regularly reminded them that Mark had done nothing wrong and that releasing Mark had to occur before the Taliban could hope for better relations with the United States.”
.@SecBlinken addresses a @ForeignPressCtr freedom of expression roundtable and comments on the release of Mark Frerichs from Afghanistan. “There is no higher priority than bringing Americans who are being arbitrarily and unjustly detained or held hostage back home to freedom.” pic.twitter.com/Wt9NkcZBr3
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 19, 2022
The officials also mentioned that Biden decided to grant clemency to Noorzai in June and was especially concerned about Frerichs’ safety while making the decision to kill Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan last month. “We told the Taliban immediately after the strike that we would hold them directly responsible if any harm were to come to Mark,” the official remarked. During a “narrow window of opportunity” available this month, they decided on the prisoner swap. He said that Frerichs seemed to be in a “stable” condition when he was received by US officials in Doha.
60-year-old Frerichs, who had been working and living in Afghanistan for a decade, was kidnapped on January 31, 2020 in the Khost province by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network. The Illinois native was last seen in a video released by The New Yorker earlier this year, pleading to be reunited with his family.
I’m thrilled that his family, who have long been Mark’s champions, will get to reunite with him. I applaud President Biden, who I spoke with personally about the need to get Mark home, for taking the steps necessary to prove that we do not leave Americans behind.
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) September 19, 2022
Following his release, his father, Art Frerichs, told BBC that they did speak with Biden but haven’t spoken with Mark yet. “We’re definitely feeling very relieved. It’s been a long time,” he said. Similarly, his sister Charlene Cakora thanked the officials in a statement, adding, “We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed Noorzai’s release by saying that it could “open a new door for talks between both countries.” “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 remarked at a news conference in Kabul.
There can be no progress in relations with Afghans through force and pressure, but on the contrary understanding can do anything.2/2 pic.twitter.com/YIWx4H8WiQ
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) September 19, 2022
Noorzai, who has been called the “Pablo Escobar of heroin trafficking in Asia,” was arrested in New York in 2005 for trying to smuggle $50 million worth of heroin into the US. Prosecutors accused him of having close ties with late Taliban founder Mullah Omar and said he financed the first Taliban government in the 90s in exchange for continuing his flourishing drug trade in Kandahar.
In 2008, he was sentenced to life in prison, with a US Department of Justice official noting at the time that his “worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism, a legacy that continues to destabilise the region.”
Mark Frerichs is free, Taliban announce, after exchange for Haji Bashir Noorzai, prolific drug trafficker once called “Pablo Escobar of Asia.” Noorzai was convinced in '08, sentenced to life in '09, and claims to have been CIA asset in the 90s and '00’s, and lured to NYC
— Nick Schifrin (@nickschifrin) September 19, 2022
Drug kingpin Haji Bashir Noorzai welcomed by the Taliban after being released by the US in a prisoner swap after the Taliban released American national Mark Frerichs.
— Hamza Azhar Salam (@HamzaAzhrSalam) September 19, 2022
It's a brave new world. pic.twitter.com/yM9YgwImJe
However, his lawyers refuted all allegations, accusing the US of trying to dupe him into coming to the country on the promise of not arresting him.
When he returned to Afghanistan on Monday, Noorzai said he was happy to be among his “mujahedeen brothers” again, referring to the Taliban. “I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now,” he added.
Though many have criticised Noorzai’s release, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) had called on the Biden administration to free him in exchange for Frerichs, citing his poor health.