US demands release of last American hostage from Taliban, know all about it
Joe Biden, President of the United States on Sunday (January 30) called on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to release an American hostage who was abducted two years ago and is believed to be the last American hostage held by the Taliban.
“Threatening the safety of Americans or any innocent civilians is always unacceptable, and hostage-taking is an act of particular cruelty and cowardice,” Biden said in a statement. “The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.”
Who is the hostage?
Mark Frerichs, a 59-year-old civil engineer is said to be held captive in Afghanistan for two years and is believed to be the last American hostage in the war-torn country led by the Taliban.
Frerichs is a US Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was kidnapped a month before the February 2020 US troop pullout deal was signed and was transferred to the Haqqani network, a brutal Taliban faction accused of some of the deadliest attacks of the war.
Frerichs` family has criticized the US government for not pressing harder to secure his release. Last week, his sister, Charlene Cakora, made a personal plea to Biden in a Washington Post opinion piece titled, “President Biden, please bring home my brother, the last American held hostage in Afghanistan.”
Monday marks his second year in captivity.
US pullout from Afghanistan
Months after Joe Biden came into power, his administration pulled US troops out of Afghanistan in August in a chaotic withdrawal that drew sharp criticism from Republicans and his own Democrats as well as foreign allies and punctured his approval ratings.
The pull out marked the end of the longest war in history after the infamous 9/11 terror attacks.
US and Taliban officials met for the first time since the pullout in October in Doha, Qatar, which had hosted talks on Afghanistan that led to the troop withdrawal.
The Qatari emir was due to visit the White House on Monday on a range of issues that will include global energy security, the White House said last week. Qatar represents US interests in Kabul.