In the days following the capture of an American contractor in Afghanistan earlier this year, Navy commandos raided a village and detained suspected members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network while the US intelligence community tried to track the cellphones of the man and his captors, The Associated Press has learned.
While the circumstances surrounding the abduction remain unclear, the previously unreported operation described by multiple American officials over the past month shed new light on early efforts to locate Mark R Frerichs.
The disappearance several months ago of the contractor from Illinois has been shrouded in mystery, and the case has been the subject of minimal public discussion by the US government.
The new details emerge as violence and political infighting in Kabul threaten to scuttle a Taliban peace deal with the US.
Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced frustrations after a failed attempt to mediate a power struggle between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and political rival Dr Abdullah Abdullah. The Trump administration said it would cut USD 1 billion in aid to Afghanistan.
Washington has urged Kabul to release Taliban prisoners, which is part of the peace agreement, arguing the detainees were at risk of spreading the coronavirus.
But there are no public indications Frerichs, a Navy veteran, has been part of negotiations between the US and Taliban leadership, or that his release is part of any peace deal.
"The Taliban kidnapped my brother in January. In February, the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban. My brother wasn't part of the deal. Now we are arranging for the Taliban and Afghan government to exchange thousands of prisoners, Charlene Cakora, one of Frerichs' sisters, said in a statement provided to the AP. Why can't we make an American hostage be one of them?
Frerichs' father, Art, said in a statement that though he has faith in President Donald Trump and Pompeo, I just need them to tell their people negotiating with the Taliban that America won't lift a finger until my son comes home. He's a veteran. This is America. We don't leave people behind.
Frerichs' father, Art, said in a statement that though he has faith in President Donald Trump and Pompeo, I just need them to tell their people negotiating with the Taliban that America won't lift a finger until my son comes home. He's a veteran. This is America. We don't leave people behind.
The Pentagon and US Special Operations Command declined to comment on the SEALs raid.
The rescue effort is being coordinated through the FBI-led, multiagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, which said in a statement that it was working with its partners to ensure that Mark Frerichs and all Americans held hostage abroad are returned home. It encouraged anyone with information about the case to come forward.
The State Department said it was aware of an American who'd been abducted in Afghanistan.
The welfare, safety and security of Americans is the Trump Administration's highest priority, the department said. The United States will continue to push for the safe return of this and all other US citizens through all relevant channels.
A former US national security official who is advising the Frerichs family said he urged Washington peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to resolve the situation and that "he is aware of Mark's presence, but it does not appear yet that he understands that he needs to get him home.
The former official insisted on anonymity to speak candidly since the official sometimes works with the Trump administration.
US officials believe Frerichs, 57, of Lombard, Illinois, was held for at least some time in Khost, an eastern province along the border with Pakistan and its so-called tribal regions, a mountainous area that has historically been a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
The former national security official said Frerichs has been in Afghanistan for about a decade working on commercial projects and was not a US government contractor.
The first 96 hours is crucial, a senior US government official briefed on the case told the AP on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
If they're not recovered in the first few days, it becomes harder every minute after.
Though no formal demands are known to have been made, US intelligence officials believe Frerichs was captured by members of the Haqqani network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Haqqanis have strong links to North Waziristan, a tribal region in Pakistan, south of Afghanistan's Khost province.
The Obama administration designated the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012 for its ties with the Taliban and the group's attacks on US military and civilian personnel. Though the Haqqanis are known to carry out assassinations and kidnappings for ransom, Taliban leadership has not acknowledged Frerichs' capture.
I have not received any information about him, said a Taliban source who asked not to be named. There has been no clue despite my contacts with every side to get information.
In November, the Afghan government released three prominent members of the Haqqani network in exchange for an American citizen and an Australian professor abducted in 2016. Pompeo characterized the prisoner swap as a goodwill gesture.
Rep. Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican and Army veteran who led the teams that searched for Bowe Bergdahl after the Army soldier abandoned his post in 2009 and wound up captured by the Taliban, said the Taliban frequently hides American hostages until they can move them over the border into Pakistan.
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