Wife of American wrongfully detained by Taliban airs frustration

Ryan Corbett, a father of three, was detained by the Taliban two years ago Saturday and remains held by them in Afghanistan.

His wife, Anna, is raising their children without him and is his most loyal advocate frequently traveling to Washington to make sure the government is exhausting all its options and resources attempting to secure his release. She spent this past week in Washington and will be “getting away” with their two younger children this weekend as a “distraction” from the anniversary, she told the Washington Examiner.

Anna Corbett, during her 13th trip to Washington this week, met with State Department officials in the office of the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, which handles wrongful detention cases, and met with staffers of members of the House and Senate. 

She also met with White House officials but was unable to meet with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, whom she met with last in January, and said her “emails were left ignored.”

“I would like to see responses to emails, keeping promises when a promise is made that Jake Sullivan will meet with me again, and does not. Seven months later, no response,” Anna Corbett said. “That’s just disrespectful, and I don’t appreciate that. How am I supposed to believe that Ryan is important and valuable if that’s the way the family is treated when I’m fighting so hard for his life and for his release? I would like to see effort made to prioritize the situation.”

A White House official told the Washington Examiner that another meeting between Sullivan and the Corbett family “is in the works.”

The Corbetts moved to Afghanistan in 2010 and Ryan Corbett started a consulting and microfinance company in 2017. The family evacuated Afghanistan when the Taliban took over in August 2021 as U.S. troops were departing. Ryan Corbett first returned to Afghanistan in January 2022 to help his business that was still running and had no problems coming home, but he was detained the next time he went to Afghanistan, and has been held since.

Anna Corbett expressed concern about Ryan Corbett’s health, which she said is growing worse with time.

Anna Corbett said that in her limited conversations with Ryan Corbett, he has shared details about “discolored extremities, struggling to stand up or he faints, and that his knees are really weakening,” and she said, “The fear at this time is that his body is so deteriorated and weak, and if his mental capacity has decreased so much that if something hits him, he’s just gonna decline and die really rapidly.”

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said they are “deeply concerned” about Ryan Corbett’s well-being, as well as that of other Americans detained in Afghanistan. 

“When we say we’re not forgetting anyone, we mean it, and we have the record to back that up,” he said during Thursday’s briefing. “And we will continue to use every resource the United States Government has to try and bring Ryan and other wrongfully detained Americans home.”

Biden administration officials have said this month that they have secured the release of more than 50 Americans held abroad over the course of the administration.

“The Biden administration remains fully committed to doing everything we can to bring home Americans who are wrongfully detained abroad, including Ryan Corbett,” a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner.

“For months, senior officials from the White House and State Department have met with the Corbett family to keep them updated on the Administration’s tireless to bring him home,” the official added. “We will continue to do so, and we will continue the ongoing efforts to bring Ryan Corbett and all other wrongfully detained Americans home. We also continue to warn Americans, as we have for years, and especially since our withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, that they should not travel to Afghanistan.”

Last week, the U.S. pulled off a complex prisoner exchange that included 24 people and involved seven countries. In particular, the U.S. was able to secure the release of four Americans, including two journalists Evan Gershovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, from Russia.