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President Joe Biden speaks at Atlanta College Middle Consortium, Jan. 11, 2022, in Atlanta. President Biden, on Sunday, jan. 30, 2022 is asking for the discharge of U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was taken hostage in Afghanistan practically two years in the past. Frerichs is a civil engineer and contractor from Lombard, Illinois. He was kidnapped in January 2020 from the capital of Kabul. He's believed to be within the custody of the Taliban-linked Haqqani community. (AP Photograph/Patrick Semansky, file)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday referred to as for the discharge of U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was taken hostage in Afghanistan practically two years in the past.
Frerichs, a civil engineer and contractor from Lombard, Illinois, was kidnapped in January 2020 from the capital of Kabul. He's believed to be within the custody of the Taliban-linked Haqqani community.
“Threatening the security of People or any harmless civilians is at all times unacceptable, and hostage-taking is an act of specific cruelty and cowardice,” President Joe Biden stated in an announcement to mark the second anniversary of the kidnapping on Monday. “The Taliban should instantly launch Mark earlier than it will probably anticipate any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This isn't negotiable.”
The assertion got here as Afghanistan faces a thorny humanitarian disaster following the U.S. withdrawal in August. The Taliban shortly seized management of a lot of the nation and the international support that been flowing into the nation largely halted, placing in danger the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who might starve or freeze to dying.
Charlene Cakora, Frerichs’ sister, issued an announcement saying that her household is “grateful” for Biden’s phrases.
“However what we actually need is to have Mark residence,” she stated. “We all know the president has choices in entrance of him to make that occur and hope Mark’s protected return will change into a precedence.”