The wife of an American man who has been detained by the Taliban for more than two years spoke with leaders from the current and incoming administrations over the weekend about their efforts to secure the release of her husband, Ryan Corbett.
On top of acting as a single mother with three children, Anna Corbett has tirelessly advocated her husband, who has been held by the Taliban since August 2022. The family lived in Afghanistan before the collapse of the Ghani government in 2021, though Ryan Corbett went back to help the business he founded there, which is when the Taliban arrested him.
This weekend, Anna Corbett and her eldest daughter traveled to Florida, where they positioned themselves outside of Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump's current residence, with the hope of meeting with the incoming commander in chief. They weren't able to speak with Trump directly, but they did meet with his incoming national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL).
Anna Corbett also got a call from President Joe Biden, though she said the in-person conversation with Waltz left her more optimistic.
Biden "was very empathetic and easy to speak with, but it was disappointing to realize on this call that he was not going to bring Ryan home and that the deal on the table is not something that he was willing to do, and after so much advocacy for the past almost two and a half years, it was just shocking and devastating for our family," she told the Washington Examiner.
Comparatively, Anna Corbett said Waltz gave her and her daughter "over an hour" of his time and "listened and expressed how much bringing Ryan home means to him, and he wants to prioritize this, and that was just extremely encouraging, a contrast with my previous experience. It took me 16 months to have my first meeting with the current national security adviser, Jake Sullivan."
The Biden administration has agreed to several prisoner exchanges to secure the release of Americans that the State Department has determined are being held wrongfully, including one deal to return an American from Afghanistan. However, the deals require the United States to give up something or someone of interest to the government or group willing to use Americans as bargaining chips. Rogue governments have kidnapped or arrested Americans under false pretenses to secure concessions from the U.S. in what's commonly referred to as "hostage diplomacy."
George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi are also believed to be held by the Taliban, the former of whom is considered wrongfully detained. The Taliban denied holding Habibi, which has complicated the talks. There are reports that the Biden administration is looking to secure the release of all three Americans in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the 15 remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
“President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go,” Habibi’s brother, Ahmad Habibi, said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother.”
The U.S. has made offers to the Taliban involving other individuals as well, according to the official.
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The Pentagon opposed Rahim's release, as did the U.S. intelligence community, due to the threat it believes he poses, according to a U.S. official. The Department of Defense's Periodic Review Board looks at detainees' cases and determines whether they would pose a threat to the U.S. if released, and the PBR has not supported Rahim's release.
Biden has reduced the population in Guantanamo Bay from 40 to 15 detainees over the course of his administration.