Taliban frees American navy veteran Mark Frerichs after two years in prisoner swap for Afghan war lord held by the US for smuggling heroin since 2005
- Mark Frerichs was exchanged at the airport in Kabul, with Bashir Noorzai
- Frerichs worked in Afghanistan for decade and was abducted in February 2020
- Noorzai spent 17 years in a US jail for smuggling more than $50 million of heroin
- Frerich’s release was previously described as a ‘non-negotiable priority’ for US
The Taliban have freed American navy veteran Mark Frerichs after two years in a prisoner swap for an Afghan war lord held by the US for smuggling heroin since 2005.
Frerichs was exchanged at the airport in Taliban’s capital Kabul, with Bashir Noorzai, a news conference was today told by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Engineer and U.S. Navy veteran Frerichs, from Lombard, Illinois, worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was abducted in February 2020.
The US had sentenced Noorzai to life imprisonment for smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe and he served 17 years in an American jail.
Referring to the Taliban, Muttaqi said: ‘The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to solve problems by negotiation with all including the United States.’
The news conference were briefly addressed by Noorzai, alongside Muttaqi and the Taliban’s acting deputy prime ministers.
He said: ‘I am proud to be in the capital of my country among my brothers.’
Frerichs was exchanged at the airport in Taliban’s capital Kabul, with Bashir Noorzai, a news conference was today told by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Pictured: Bashir Noorzai, center, a senior Taliban detainee held at Guantanamo attends his release ceremony, at the Intercontinental Hotel
Engineer and U.S. Navy veteran Frerichs, from Lombard, Illinois, worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was abducted in February 2020. Pictured: Frerichs in April
Noorzai had longstanding ties to the Taliban. His lawyer denied that he was a drug dealer and argued that the charges should be dismissed because U.S. government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested.
While he held no official position, he had ‘provided strong support including weapons’ for the Taliban in the 1990s, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
His return to Kabul was celebrated with a hero’s fanfare by the government of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the name the Taliban have given the nation since seizing power last August.
Photographs show he was greeted by masked Taliban fighters bearing floral garlands.
Noorzai said at the news conference: ‘If the IEA had not shown its strong determination, I would not have been here today.’
Previously, the US had pushed for the release of Frerichs, including after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, as U.S-led foreign forces were withdrawing.
America’s state department had described the veteran’s release as one of the government’s ‘core, non-negotiable priorities’.
Joe Biden said in a statement in January: ‘The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.’
Officials in the US have said that Frerich’s case would influence their view on the legitimacy of a Taliban-led government.
The Taliban has not been formally recognised by any foreign government, partially due to the group’s restriction of most girls from education.
It seized power in Afghanistan a little over a year ago as the United States and their NATO allies withdrew from the country after 20 years of military intervention.
Previously, the US had pushed for the release of Frerichs, pictured, including after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, as U.S-led foreign forces were withdrawing
Who is Bashir Noorzai?
Bashir Noorzai is a convicted former Afghan drug lord. He was an early supporter of the Taliban movement and later worked as an undercover agent on behalf of the U.S. government.
Haji Bashir Noorzai’s case drew worldwide attention. He was part of an operation that sent millions of dollars of heroin around the world.
On 1 June 2004, he was sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
Noorzai was lured to New York in 2005 to meet with American officials, assured that he would not be arrested.
But after days of talks with federal agents, he was arrested and in 2009 was sentenced to life in jail.
Noorzai had insisted that he did nothing against the US government, people or legal system before his sentencing.
He had led a tribe of a million people and told the court that he wanted to bring ‘peace and stability’ to his country.
The judge said that Noorzai’s involvement in drugs were harmful to the people of his country.
Denny Chin added that he was not convinced his efforts to assist the US were viable reasons to reduce his sentence.
Noorzai was in Quetta when the September 11 attacks occurred, and soon afterwards returned to Afghanistan.
In November 2001, he met with men he described as American military officials at Spinboldak, near the Afghan-Pakistani border. Small teams of U.S. Special Forces and intelligence officers were in Afghanistan at the time, seeking the support of tribal leaders.
According to his lawyer, Noorzai was taken to Kandahar, where he was detained and questioned for six days by the Americans about Taliban officials and operations.
He agreed to work with them and was freed, and in late January 2002 he handed over 15 truckloads of weapons, including about 400 anti-aircraft missiles, that had been hidden by the Taliban in his tribe’s territory.
But he had also provided money and arms to the Taliban and had been heard on the phone in 2002 calling the US his ‘enemy.’
Bashir Noorzai fought the Soviet forces that occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
He was left in charge of Kandahar after Mullah Omar went into hiding.
Sources: New York Times and Wikipedia
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