Ryan Corbett, whose parents live in Louisville, was one of two Americans released in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban in the final hours of former President Joe Biden’s time in office before President Donald Trump took over Monday.
Corbett, 42, was arrested in Afghanistan in August 2022. The U.S. State Department had classified him as “wrongfully detained.” His family confirmed his release Tuesday in a statement, saying that Corbett was “home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives.” Corbett lives in New York and his parents live in Louisville. Kentucky lawmakers cosponsored a bipartisan resolution last year after meeting with his family.
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Taliban officials in Kabul did not identify the second American freed, and there was no immediate confirmation from that person’s family or U.S. officials. However, some media outlets reported it was William McKenty, 69.
Corbett had lived in Afghanistan with his family until the U.S.-backed government fell to the Taliban in 2021. He was abducted when he returned to that country a year later on a business trip connected to his micro-lending consultancy. Corbett’s case had received some public attention. His wife, Anna, spoke on the phone with Biden and she also visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla.
Less is known about McKenty’s case. Few details have emerged about his identity or what he was doing in Afghanistan when he was abducted. He has reportedly asked the U.S. government to help maintain his privacy.
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The deal was struck for Khan Mohammad, a member of the Taliban serving two life sentences in a U.S. prison. The U.S. Justice Department said Mohammad was convicted in 2008 on “drug and narco-terrorism charges.”
The Taliban’s foreign ministry said the deal was the done as a result of “long and fruitful negotiations” and was completed shortly before Trump was sworn in Monday. Mohammad was arrested about halfway through the U.S.’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, which it invaded to destroy Al-Qaeda and bring Osama bin Laden to justice.
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At a rally in Washington, D.C. on the eve of his inauguration, Trump pledged to reclaim U.S. military equipment left behind in Afghanistan when the Biden administration pulled U.S. forces out of Kabul.
At least two other American captives are being held in Afghanistan.
One of them is George Glezmann, a former airline mechanic. The other one is Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was seized after a U.S. strike in Afghanistan in 2022 that killed Al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
In their statement, the Corbett family praised both the Biden and Trump administrations for helping with the exchange. The family also expressed regret that Glezmann and Habibi were not part of it. The family also thanked Qatar, an energy-rich Middle Eastern nation that has helped broker hostage exchanges between the U.S. and the Taliban over the years. A representative for Qatar’s government did not respond to a comment request.
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Qatar has played a leading role alongside the U.S. and Egypt in mediating a hostage and prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Three Israeli hostages were released from Gaza on Sunday, while 90 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli prisons. More hostages and prisoners are set to be released on Jan. 25.
The State Department designates Americans held overseas as “wrongfully detained” if it views their detentions as politically motivated and believes the charges are fabricated. That was the case with Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was imprisoned in Russia for 16 months before his release last summer.
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The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation is named after an American journalist kidnapped and murdered by the Islamic State group in Syria in 2014. It reports that there are currently 36 publicly disclosed cases of Americans being held as hostages or wrongfully detained overseas. The majority are in the Middle East and Russia.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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