Anna Corbett is desperate for the Biden administration to make good on a promise to help rescue her husband, who was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan two years ago. video Last week, they pleaded for help from the White House outside the West Wing.
Saturday marks two years since her husband, Ryan Corbett, 41, was arrested along with three companions, one German and two Afghans, during a business trip in northern Afghanistan.
“I’m not rich or famous,” said his distraught wife CBS News. “I don’t have as many resources as other people. I don’t know what else I can do.”
Last week, Corbett, 43, was photographed by her teenage daughter, Kesha, pleading for a meeting with President Biden and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan outside the White House.
“I’m standing just a few feet from the West Wing of the White House, where the president is sitting, and also Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser,” she said. video In a trembling voice, [Sullivan] In January, he said he would see me again before the State of the Union if Ryan wasn’t home.”
“I’ve written him emails and begged him to meet me but he’s ignored me. He’s broken his promise to me,” she continued. “Please meet with me and do everything in your power to bring Ryan home as soon as possible.”
The Corbetts lived in Kabul from 2010 to 2021. Ryan, a Pashto speaker, worked for a local NGO before starting his own microloan and consulting business in the Afghanistan capital.
The Ryan family fled Kabul when U.S. troops withdrew in August 2021, but Ryan returned a year later to support his company’s staff when the State Department’s travel advisory for Afghanistan reached its highest level.
Corbett and his business associates were arrested days after a U.S. drone strike on July 31, 2022 killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Those involved were later released.
Corbett was accused by the Taliban of anti-state activities but was never formally charged – a common accusation against Westerners and one his family denies.
Anna Corbett said she learned Ryan was being held in solitary confinement in a windowless basement cell.
“He’s clearly weakened and deteriorating,” Anna said.
“High-profile detainees should not be the only ones receiving the full attention of the White House,” she said in a statement.
