ABC News’ Ian Pannell takes an in-depth look at life inside Afghanistan and the impact the withdrawal of U.S. forces could have, especially on women.The Illinois family of a U.S. Navy veteran who has been held hostage by the Taliban has said for the past year that he might get left behind by his own country.
The options that have been considered for freeing Frerichs include trying to arrange a controversial prisoner exchange involving an Afghan druglord, encouraging Pakistan to influence the captor network, or staging a high-risk rescue operation if Frerichs can be located, numerous officials told ABC News in recent weeks on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters.
A key U.S. special operations air base in Jalalabad, Eastern Afghanistan -- where U.S. Navy SEALs in 2011 launched their raid over the border to Abbottabad, Pakistan, to kill Osama Bin Laden and where other SEALs launched raids in Afghanistan last year to attempt a rescue of Frerichs -- closed a month ago.
U.S. intelligence is now assessing rumors that the Pakistani ISI already has gotten involved in the Frerichs matter, one source told ABC News. Many assume he is being held captive inside Pakistan, like most of the Haqqani network's Western hostages in the past. "We absolutely should do it," Waltz told ABC News last week regarding the Pakistan option."The Pakistanis could get Mark out tomorrow and we could get him home tomorrow."
The Biden official who would lead any possible effort to press Islamabad to take an active role with Frerichs' liberation is U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs Ambassador Roger Carstens, who, like Khalilzad, is a holdover from the Trump administration who was asked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to stay on and continue to aggressively seek the freedom of U.S. hostages abroad.
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