A wife working to bring her husband home from years of wrongful detainment in Afghanistan saw heartening progress over the weekend.
After traveling to Mar-a-Lago with no promise that anyone with President-elect Donald Trump's team would see her, Anna Corbett had a meeting with incoming National Security Advisor Michael Waltz for more than an hour and received a phone call from President Biden.
"I have heard from several that President Trump is concerned about our family. He knows that we are down here. He knows about our situation, and is very concerned," Corbett revealed to Fox News on Monday morning.
On Sunday, Waltz came to Corbett's hotel and met with her for over an hour, she said.
"I am extremely encouraged, and the contrast of my experience is just mind-blowing right now."
Corbett said she "absolutely believe[s]" the Trump administration will bring her husband home, but "the details are unclear."
WIFE OF AMERICAN DETAINED IN AFGHANISTAN HEADS TO MAR-A-LAGO TO BEG TRUMP TO TAKE UP PRISONER SWAP
Corbett spoke with Fox News Digital on Friday as she was heading down to Mar-a-Lago on a last-minute flight to beg for a meeting with Trump.
Biden had not called her once, she said, in the two and a half years since her husband was detained, until this weekend.
She told Fox News Biden was "very kind" and "empathetic," but the call was "absolutely devastating" because it was clear he was not going to bring Ryan Corbett home in his final days in office.
"What I heard him say is he is not bringing Ryan home," she said.
Since Ryan Corbett was detained two and a half years ago, he "just keeps missing milestones," according to Anna Corbett. One of their three kids recently shot his first buck while hunting, another was elected prom queen and another graduated from high school.
The Corbett family lived in Afghanistan, where Ryan Corbett operated a business prior to the Taliban takeover in 2021.
"We love the people, and had to evacuate when the Taliban took over, but Ryan kept his business open, and that's why he returned to Afghanistan," said Anna Corbett.
In August 2022, Ryan Corbett and a German business partner returned to Afghanistan to train new hires for their business that offered consulting services and lending. Both were detained by the Taliban, and since then, Anna Corbett has had short calls with him about every two weeks as his condition in prison has deteriorated.
The White House on Sunday confirmed Biden spoke with Corbett's family, along with the families of George Glezmann and Mahmoud Habibi - who have also been unjustly held by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2022.
US IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH TALIBAN TO SWAP AMERICANS IN AFGHANISTAN FOR PRISONER IN GUANTANAMO
White House officials noted that over the last four years, Biden brought home more than 75 Americans unjustly detained around the world. All Americans detained before the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021 have returned home, according to the White House.
"Globally, President Biden and his team have worked around the clock, often in partnership with key allies, to negotiate for the release of Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad so that they can be reunited with their families, and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the term," according to the statement.
Reports broke last week that the Biden administration was negotiating with the Taliban to swap three U.S. citizens being held in Afghanistan in exchange for a Guantanamo Bay prisoner alleged to have been a close associate of Usama bin Laden.
The deal seemingly stalled, as a senior Taliban official told The Guardian the group would rather wait to negotiate with the incoming Trump administration.
Trump told Fox News' Peter Doocy last week he would consider a prisoner swap but seemed skeptical.
"I haven't looked at it," Trump said Thursday. "I have not been in favor of the trade, but I'll be taking a look tomorrow. We'll announce something tomorrow."
Despite the detentions, the U.S. remains the largest financial supporter of Afghanistan, having offered the nation around $3 billion since the 2021 withdrawal.
The talks, which have been ongoing since at least July 2024, involve exchanging suspected senior al Qaeda aide Muhammad Rahim al Afghani for U.S. citizens Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmoud Habibi, who were detained in Afghanistan in 2022.
The Taliban has long sought the release of Rahim, who has been held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba since 2008, because the Pentagon believes he was a close associate of bin Laden.
In November 2023, the Guantánamo Bay prison review board cited Rahim's work for senior al Qaeda members, and his participation in attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, as reasons to keep him in custody.
