The wife of an American who has been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than a year recounted her knowledge of her husband's plight to members of Congress on Tuesday.
Anna Corbett, the wife of Ryan Corbett, described the "living nightmare for our family" that has gone on now for 15 months since he was detained in August 2022. She said she's "suffered outside the public eye" since he was detained, but that her concern for her husband's life prompted her to speak out on his behalf, as she did on Tuesday in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
OBAMA ADVISER DAVID AXELROD SLAMS BIDEN'S SLOW CAMPAIGN: 'GET OUT OR GET GOING'
"We recently learned that Ryan has been fainting and experiencing seizures. He is often threatened with physical harm. He is told by his captors that he is forgotten and that his country doesn’t care about him. And why wouldn’t he believe it when other Westerners have come and gone so much faster than he? The impact on his mental health is unspeakable," Anna Corbett told lawmakers.
The Corbetts lived in Afghanistan since 2010, when they moved from Minnesota to support humanitarian projects in Kabul, and Ryan Corbett ultimately started a business consulting and microfinance company in 2017. They ultimately evacuated Afghanistan as the Taliban took over in August 2021 when U.S. troops were leaving for good. Ryan Corbett returned to Afghanistan in January 2022 without issue, but he was then detained when he went in August of last year along with a European colleague and two local partners, who were both ultimately released by the end of 2022.
"What little we do know about Ryan has come from other Western citizens who have been released. Ryan is being held in a 3-by-3-meter [9-by-9-foot] basement cell with other Western detainees. He eats little, other than scraps of greasy goat and fat. He is held in solitary confinement for weeks at a time," she added. "My husband was trying to do a good thing for the people of Afghanistan. Now he is suffering and so are we. We know that the U.S. and Afghanistan cannot move forward while American citizens are being wrongfully detained for political ends. I promise you that my family will not stop advocating for Ryan until he is released."
Taliban officials have signaled their desire to secure the release of Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, who has been held in extrajudicial detention at Guantanamo Bay since 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited a senior U.S. official who indicated such a request isn't realistic.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It’s not a real demand because real demands are things that could conceivably be had,” the official said. “Asking for something unavailable smacks of purporting to negotiate in good faith while really prolonging a situation that’s inhumane and unacceptable.”
In September 2022, the U.S. and the Taliban agreed to a prisoner exchange in which U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs was freed for Bashir Noorzai, the Afghan leader who had been imprisoned in the U.S. for allegedly smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the U.S. and Europe.