The Taliban has freed the last U.S. prisoner in Afghanistan as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S., according to reports.
Mark Frerich, a United States prisoner held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban, was released last Monday. Frerich was a U.S. Navy veteran and engineer who was first taken by the Taliban in 2020 while working as a contractor.
Taliban frees last American prisoner in Afghanistan in prisoner swap with the US https://t.co/4qlDV2igbN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 19, 2022
To free Frerich, the U.S. government arranged a prisoner swap that was approved by President Biden. In exchange for his release, convicted heroin smuggler and Taliban member Bashir Noorzai was freed after he was sentenced to jail in 2008.
Frerich and Noorzai were swapped at the airport in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan.
“Today, we have secured the release of Mark Frerichs, and he will soon be home. Mark was taken in Afghanistan in January 2020 and held for 31 months,” said Biden. “His release is the culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments, and I want to thank them for all that effort.”
In addition to the release of Frerich, Biden is still requesting the freedom of many imprisoned Americans worldwide, such as the incarceration of Brittney Griner, a basketball player in the WNBA. The Russian government currently has her jailed for possession of cannabis, which is a severe criminal offense in Russia.
Billions of dollars’ worth of frozen assets, which once belonged to the government of Afghanistan, are still being held by the United States today, and the two countries are still negotiating the terms of these funds. The assets have been on hold since the Afghan government fell to the Taliban last year, even with the support of the United States.
The current Afghan economy is currently in decline due to the Taliban and sanctions from Western nations. Many humanitarian groups fear that the people of Afghanistan may experience widespread hunger in the upcoming winter months. The U.S. and United Nations hope to stabilize their economy by releasing the assets.
To avoid sending funds directly to the Taliban, the US intends to set up a Swiss trust fund to ensure that funds are only distributed for humanitarian purposes. However, much of the funds given by the U.S. were still making their way to the Taliban according to some NGOs.
