One year after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, and more than 2 1/2 years after both the Trump and Biden administrations failed to secure his release, Navy veteran Mark Frerichs remains a hostage of the Taliban.
Frerichs, a civil engineer and former Navy diver from Illinois, had been working overseas as a contractor for a decade when he was abducted on Jan. 31, 2020, in Kabul. Republicans have argued the Biden administration has not done nearly enough to secure his release.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that “another byproduct of the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal is the failure to bring home Mark Frerichs.”
Frerichs spoke to his sister Charlene Cakora just a few days before he was taken. She told the Washington Examiner in January that he didn’t indicate he was in any danger during their last exchange.
Cakora said she wants the government to make the deal and bring her brother home but has been unhappy with the unsuccessful efforts, first by the Trump administration and now by the Biden administration.
“It seems like it’s one thing after another,” she said in January. “I’m not pro-Trump or anything, but it was another bump on the road because now, we have a whole new administration to deal with.” Cakora is now the main point of contact between the family, State Department, and FBI.
Cakora said she would often ask her older brother why he chose to work in such war-torn countries as Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I would say, ‘Why are you rebuilding? All they’re going to do is blow it up again.’ … It was a good fit for him,” Cakora said. “He was proud that he was out there helping them, doing his part.”
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On the one-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover this month, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “A priority of ours is the safety and, ultimately, the freedom of Mark Frerichs, who has spent years of his life in custody.” Price said in July that the U.S. “cannot have a normal relationship with any entity that continues to hold an American citizen.”
Price had said in November that Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West led a U.S. delegation to discuss “enduring national interests” with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, including “the safe release of hostage Mark Frerichs.”
Navy commandos raided a village and detained Taliban militants after Frerichs was captured in early 2020, according to the Associated Press, which reported that U.S. intelligence agents attempted to track the cellphones of Frerichs and those who had captured him. It is widely believed Frerichs is being held by Haqqani network elements of the Taliban.
Art Frerichs, Mark’s father, told the outlet he had faith in President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the time, saying, “I just need them to tell their people negotiating with the Taliban that America won’t lift a finger until my son comes home. He’s a veteran. This is America. We don’t leave people behind.”
The February 2020 agreement in Doha was signed by the Trump administration and Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The agreement included the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and up to 1,000 Afghan prisoners held by the Taliban. Mark Frerichs was not mentioned, and neither Trump nor President Joe Biden got him out.
Biden said in January that “the Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.”
A 30-second video of Mark Frerichs obtained by the New Yorker emerged in April, with Frerichs stating in the video that it was recorded on Nov. 28, 2021.
“I’ve been patiently waiting for my release,” Mark Frerichs apparently read from a script held in front of him. “I’d like to ask the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, please, release me.”
Cakora confirmed to the outlet that it was his brother, saying, “This is public confirmation of our family’s long-held belief that he is alive.”
The video surfaced shortly after Safi Rauf, an Afghan American Navy reservist, and his brother Anees Khalil, a green card holder, were released by the Taliban following negotiations with the Biden administration. The two men had been conducting humanitarian work in Kabul and had been taken hostage in December.
“We are grateful to see these two individuals reunited with their families and have no criticism of them, but we are furious with the Biden administration,” Cakora said in January. “The Taliban has been trying to trade my brother for someone in U.S. custody for over a year, and the White House has never given them a reply.”
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Former Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, an architect of the Doha agreement, told Axios earlier this month that “his understanding is that the U.S. has signaled to the Taliban that it would be open to talks if two conditions are met: that American detainee Mark Frerichs be released and that schools be reopened to girls.” A State Department spokesperson told the outlet those are “two key priorities of ours.”
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said Mark Frerichs should have been freed before the U.S. fully withdrew from Afghanistan.
“I continue to believe that what the Taliban wanted the most — what the Haqqani network wanted the most — was the full withdrawal of U.S. forces,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) told the Washington Examiner. “One would think that we could’ve gotten one hostage in exchange for the full withdrawal or as part of that withdrawal agreement. He was taken just before the Doha accords, and Khalilzad should absolutely not have signed those Doha accords just a month after they took an American hostage.”
Waltz added, “I don’t think we should be dealing with the Taliban at all as long as they’re holding a Navy veteran hostage.”
A White House National Security Council spokesperson told the Washington Examiner this month that Mark Frerichs “is assessed to be alive.”
“The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable,” the NSC said. “Securing Mark’s release continues to be a priority for the White House. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West has raised Mark every time he is with the Taliban, and we will continue to press until he is released. We have also made clear to the Taliban that we will hold them directly responsible for any harm that comes to Mark.”
“The Department of Defense is firmly committed to pursuing all viable options for the safe return of American citizen Mark Frerichs,” Army Maj. Rob Lodewick, the Pentagon’s Afghanistan spokesman, said.
A senior administration official told the Washington Examiner in October that “the Taliban have claimed they are holding Mark Frerichs” but that “for security reasons, we can’t go into further detail” when asked where Mark Frerichs is being held. When asked why the U.S. had not secured his release before withdrawing from Afghanistan, the official said only that “efforts to secure the release of Mark Frerichs have been ongoing, and they continue.”
When asked about a possible prisoner exchange, the official said, “The United States maintains a no-concessions policy with hostage takers.”
The official did not specifically answer what impact Mark Frerichs being held by the Haqqanis would have on U.S. relations with the Taliban, instead pointing to comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken said Aug. 30, 2021, the final day of the U.S. withdrawal, that “if we can work with a new Afghan government in a way that helps secure” vital national security interests, “including the safe return of Mark Frerichs … we will do it.”
The State Department’s Rewards For Justice Program is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the location, recovery, and return of Mark Frerichs. The FBI says it is investigating his disappearance in Afghanistan.
“We helped facilitate the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners in 2020, but no Mark. We drew down our troop levels at the end of 2020, but no Mark. We evacuated the country in 2021, but no Mark,” Cakora wrote for the Washington Post in January.
FBI Director Christopher Wray was “not surprised” al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri was in a Kabul home owned by Haqqani Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani when the U.S. killed him in early August — seemingly confirming details about the strike the Biden administration hasn’t yet.
The White House said Haqqani Taliban officials were aware of al Zawahiri’s presence in Afghanistan and that the Haqqanis had tried to cover up his presence post-strike but has declined to confirm reports that he was staying at a safe house linked to Sirajuddin Haqqani.
A senior administration official revealed in early August that “the president also pressed us to consider how to mitigate risks to other goals, including the safe return of Mark Frerichs, ongoing efforts to relocate our Afghan partners, and access by air to Afghanistan for future counterterrorism needs” when deciding whether to conduct the strike against al Zawahiri. The official again said the analysis on whether to carry out the strike “included extensive discussion about the possible impact on the effort to recover Mark Frerichs.”
Numerous members of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network received top positions in the Taliban’s government last year. Sirajuddin Haqqani became the deputy head of the Taliban and its interior minister.
Cakora wrote an open letter to Sirajuddin Haqqani in late August 2021, saying, “I am writing to appeal for your help in bringing Mark home to his family.” Cakora said that “as a sister, I am appealing to you to show leadership by releasing my brother, and I hope my government will do the same with Bashir Noorzai.”
Bashir Noorzhai was described by the Justice Department as “a former Mujahideen warlord and strong ally of the Taliban” and was found guilty in 2008 of orchestrating a massive heroin trafficking scheme. He was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2009.
Anas Haqqani, Sirajuddin Haqqani’s brother, said in September that “there was an exchange of discussion” between the U.S. and Taliban “regarding the Mark Frerichs case” in a statement to Newsweek, claiming there were ongoing efforts that “we hope will be successful in this regard.”
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Examiner that “the Taliban is an evil terrorist organization that poses a major national security threat to our nation and innocent civilians like Mark Frerichs.”
Illinois Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D) and Dick Durbin (D) said in January that “securing the safe return of potentially the only remaining U.S. hostage of the war in Afghanistan, a Navy Veteran who served this nation honorably, is an urgent matter and we were glad to see President Biden’s statement acknowledging the situation.”
ISIS-K, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, was responsible for the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s international airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of others. The Taliban, including Haqqani forces, were providing security outside the airport when the bomber got through.
