Pressure Builds For Biden To Secure Release Of American Held Hostage By Taliban

 An American captured by the Taliban a year after President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021 remains a hostage, and his family is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of action from President Joe Biden as his health deteriorates. 

Ryan Corbett’s wife, Anna Corbett, has been fighting for his release, appearing before Congress and on major news networks to call on Biden and lawmakers to act. Since he was taken hostage, Corbett’s family has managed to secure nine brief video calls with him, and see that his condition is worsening.

His wife told The Daily Wire that the last call came this Sunday and says the call only “heightened” her concerns, learning that he has new health issues.

“My latest call with Ryan only heightened my concerns about his mental and physical health following more than 22 months in a basement cell without access to sunlight or nutritious foods,” Anna Corbett said. “My once healthy husband now faints without warning, experiences constant ringing in his ears, and is losing faith that this nightmare will ever end.”

“I continue to call on President Biden to meet with me to discuss how we can bring Ryan home before it’s too late,” she added.

A spokesman for Biden’s State Department would not specify any steps that had been taken to bring Corbett, a father of three, back to the United States, only telling The Daily Wire that it “will continue to work securing his immediate release.” 

“We are in contact with the UN Special Rapporteur’s office and welcome their efforts to call for more humane conditions Ryan and others held by the Taliban,” a State Department spokesman told The Daily Wire in an email. “We consider Ryan’s detention to be wrongful and we will continue to work securing his immediate release.” 

The United Nations official referenced by the State Department warnedearlier this month of Corbett’s deteriorating health and called on the Taliban to give him “medical treatment in a civilian hospital without delay.” 

“The conditions in which this humanitarian worker is being detained are utterly inadequate and substantially below international standards. This is having a significant impact on his physical and mental health, which is declining rapidly. Without adequate medical care he is at risk of irreparable harm or even death,” said Alice Jill Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Corbett and his family first moved to Afghanistan in 2010 and started Bloom Afghanistan, an enterprise focused on improving the war-torn country’s private sector. The Corbett family safely evacuated from Afghanistan when the United States withdrew under Biden’s orders in August 2021, creating a vacuum that the Taliban quickly seized to take power. 

About five months after U.S. forces left Afghanistan, Corbett returned to the country by himself to renew his visa and train more staff for his enterprise. He was initially welcomed back to Afghanistan and remained there until August 10, 2022, when he, along with two Afghans and a German colleague were detained by Taliban forces. While the Afghans were released a month later and Corbett’s German colleague was let go in December 2022, Corbett is still being held hostage, likely for political leverage. 

Corbett’s 18-year-old daughter Ketsia — who is set to graduate from high school on June 28 — recorded a video last week describing her dad’s situation and asking President Biden to act soon to save her father. 

“It feels like the last two years of my childhood have been stolen from me. Every day I get out of bed, put on a smile, and push forward,” Ketsia says in the video. “But my dad’s suffering is constantly on my mind and in my prayers. We’ve talked to him only eight times, but the calls have become more and more terrifying. My dad’s being tortured and abused and he feels forgotten and alone.” 

“He has no idea what’s being done to bring him home and why it’s taking so long” she continued, adding, “President Biden, if you see this or read my letter, I’m asking you to do everything you can to can to bring my dad home. I hope you can meet him one day because he is an amazing man.” 

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign told The Daily Wire that Corbett would be a free man if Trump was in office.

“President Trump brought more Americans back home and reunited them with their families because other countries knew not to test him,” said Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung. “With Biden in office, America is no longer respected on the world stage and has made Americans across the world more vulnerable.”

“There is only one person who can negotiate the safe return of hostages like Ryan Corbett back to his family — President Trump,” Cheung added. 

Republican Congressman Mark Green (R-TN), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called on Biden to “make it clear that we will not tolerate the wrongful detainment of Americans.” 

“President Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal was saddled with grievous error after grievous error despite being warned repeatedly that the return of the Taliban was not a question of if, but when,” Green told the The Daily Wire. “Just because the War on Terror has wound down does not mean our commitment to safeguarding American lives is over. President Biden must make it clear that we will not tolerate the wrongful detainment of Americans. I pray for Ryan’s family and his safe return home.”