President Joe Biden The White House announced today (Monday, Sept. 19) that the Biden administration has secured the release of Mark Frerichs, the U.S.
civil engineer and former Navy diver who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in January 2020 by the Haqqani network, a group closely aligned with the Taliban.
Frerichs has been held in Afghanistan for 31 months, but “he will soon be home,” President Biden said in a written statement.
The statement also stressed that the administration continues to work for the release of other U.S. citizens being held by foreign governments, including WNBA star Britnney Griner, who has been jailed in Russia since February when she was arrested at the airport in Moscow when she arrived to play basketball there.