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EXCLUSIVE: A wife who wants to bring her husband home from two-and-a-half years of illegal detention in Afghanistan flies to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to plead with President-elect Trump to take up her case.
Ryan Corbett was captured by the Taliban in August 2022 just as the U.S. was about to withdraw from Afghanistan, and has been trying ever since to secure talks with the Biden administration, Anna Corbett said.
This week, reports surfaced that the Biden administration is negotiating with the Taliban to exchange three Americans held in Afghanistan in exchange for prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, who are believed to be close to Osama bin Laden. saw a glimmer of hope.
But the deal appears to have stalled. The Corbett family’s hopes were dashed after a senior Taliban official told the Guardian that the group would rather wait for negotiations with the incoming Trump administration.
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“I’m absolutely desperate to fight for my family,” Anna Corbett told Fox News Digital on Friday during a layover on a flight to Mar-a-Lago.
She isn’t sure if her last attempt will work. The Trump team has not yet set a meeting.
The Corbett family before Ryan Corbett was captured in Afghanistan in 2022. (Anna Corbett)
“I’ve been trying to meet with President Biden for 883 days and he didn’t have time, so wouldn’t it be great if we could meet in one day?” she said.
President Trump told Fox News’ Peter Doocy that he would consider a prisoner exchange, but seemed skeptical.
“I haven’t seen it,” President Trump said Thursday. “I’m not in favor of a trade, but we’ll look at it tomorrow. We’ll announce something tomorrow.”
The talks, which have been going on since at least July 2024, include Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a senior al-Qaida aide, as well as US nationals Ryan Corbett and George Glezman, who were captured in Afghanistan in 2022. This includes replacing Mr. Mahmoud Habibi.
The Corbett family has traveled to Washington, D.C., dozens of times to meet with officials regarding Ryan Corbett’s return. (Anna Corbett)
Some Republicans in Congress privately expressed national security concerns about returning Rahim to the Taliban and questioned whether the negotiations had resulted in a bad deal.
“Ryan is a wonderful man and has done nothing wrong. Our family desperately needs him,” Anna Corbett said, pleading with the US government to accept the deal. “He’s a patriot. He was just trying to help the people of Afghanistan. This is a decision that the president has to make. And we just want Ryan to come home alive as soon as possible. ”
Glezman and Ryan Corbett have been declared unlawfully detained by the State Department, and the Taliban deny holding Habibi.
Anna Corbett said the last time she spoke to her husband was on Christmas Day, for about 15 minutes.
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“He was obviously trying really hard to have a good Christmas for the kids and me,” she said. “But this was obviously a difficult decision because this has been going on for a very long time.
“He asked me how things were going and if there was any progress. And there was nothing I could share with him.”
Anna Corbett at the airport on her way to Mar-a-Lago, Fla., on Friday. (Anna Corbett)
In 2024, two released American detainees revealed that Ryan Corbett was severely malnourished, experienced blackouts and fainting, and was held in an underground cell with little sunlight or exercise.
Anna Corbett said her husband had gained some weight since then, but he still suffered from headaches and ringing in his ears.
Ryan Corbett was abducted on August 10, 2022, after returning to Afghanistan, where he had lived with his family when the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed a year ago.
He arrived in Afghanistan on a valid 12-month visa to pay and train staff as part of a business he heads that aims to promote Afghanistan’s private sector through consulting services and financing.
Despite the restraints, the United States remains Afghanistan’s largest financial donor, providing the country with about $3 billion since its 2021 withdrawal.
The Taliban have been calling for Rahim’s release for years. Rahim has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2008 because the Pentagon believes he was a close associate of bin Laden.
In November 2023, the Guantanamo Bay Prison Review Board cited Rahim’s activities on behalf of al-Qaeda leaders and his participation in attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan as reasons for his detention.
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Biden has long been keen on closing Guantanamo Bay prison. On Monday, he announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo to Oman, including two of bin Laden’s former bodyguards. Oman agreed to help resettle them.
FOX News’ Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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