US is demanding the release of last American hostage taken by the Taliban

US is demanding the release of last American hostage taken by the Taliban.

Joe Biden, President of the United States, on Sunday (January 30) asked the Afghan Taliban leaders to free an American hostage who was kidnapped two years ago. 

It could be believed to have been the final American hostage taken by the Taliban.

“Threatening the safety of Americans or any innocent civilians is always unacceptable, and hostage-taking is an act of particular cruelty and cowardice,” Biden declared in an announcement.

“The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.”

What is this hostage?

Mark Frerichs, a 59-year-old civil engineer, is believed to be imprisoned within Afghanistan for two decades. 

He could be believed to be the last American hostage to be held by the war-ravaged nation ruled by the Taliban.

Frerichs is a US Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for 10 years in development projects. 

He was abducted a month before the February 20, 2020 US troop pullout agreement was signed. 

He was then transferred onto the Haqqani network, a brutal Taliban group accused of committing some of the most deadly attacks of the conflict.

Frerichsfamily has criticized Frerichs family has criticized the US authorities for not pushing for his release. 

In the last week, his sister, Charlene Cakora, wrote an appeal to Biden in a Washington Post opinion piece titled, “President Biden, please bring home my brother, the last American held hostage in Afghanistan.”

Monday marks his second birthday in captivity.

US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

A few months after Joe Biden came into power and his administration retreated US troops from Afghanistan in August. 

It was an unorthodox withdrawal that earned fierce criticism from Republicans and his own Democrats and allies abroad and damaged his approval ratings.

The withdrawal marked the war that lasted the longest in human history following the 9/11 terror attacks.

US officials and Taliban officials were reunited in the first meeting since the troop withdrawal in October. 

In Doha, Qatar, it hosted discussions about Afghanistan that resulted in the troop pullout.

The Qatari emir is scheduled to meet with the White House on Monday on many issues, including global energy security. 

The White House said last week. Qatar is the representative of US concerns in Kabul.