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The wife of Taliban detainee Ryan Corbett has announced her decision to show up unannounced to President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home to forcibly demand his help in securing her husband’s release.
The decision, announced in a video on X, came as US-Taliban discussions proposed the exchange of a pritsoner being held in Guantanamo Bay for the release of three Americans being held captive in Afghanistan, reports CNN.
Top U.S. hostage envoy, Roger Carstens, was reportedly in Doha, Qatar, in recent days to present the new offer to the Taliban, the network reported citing a source close to the negotiations.
In her most recent video, where Anna is seen packing her things for the trip, she says “For 882 days, I have begged the Biden administration to bring him home alive.
“They have not delivered.
“We just celebrated Christmas without him and he has missed so many firsts in my children’s lives. He’s the heartbeat of our family and has left a huge gaping hole.
Anna revealed that she had just received a text that “President Trump has been briefed about the failed Biden administration prisoner swap.”
“It seems like the only person who can do this is President Trump.”
A press spokesperson advised that Anna was unable to comment while she travels to Mar A Lago – a decision she had no other choice to make after having 16 unsuccessful trips to Washington D.C. over two and a half years to attempt to talk with President Joe Biden about instigating Ryan’s release.
This time, she hopes things will be different with the newly-elected Republican nominee.
Her husband, Ryan Corbett, 40, George Glezmann, 65, and Mahmoud Habibi, 37, were all detained in Afghanistan in 2022 during a business trip to northern Afghanistan – though The Taliban never acknowledged detaining Habibi, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Biden administration reportedly began the negotiations in July to discuss the exchange of the trio for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a high-profile prisoner alleged to be an Osama bin Laden associate held in Guantanamo Bay since 2008.
The day the Biden administration proposed the offer, in November 2024, the Taliban counteroffered seeking Rahim plus two others in exchange for Glezmann and Corbett, added The WSJ.
In March 2024, Anna revealed that she and their three children received a “deeply disturbing 12-minute call from Ryan…in which Ryan exhibited a significantly deteriorated mental state”, according to CBS News.
“His captors have told him that he is forgotten by his country, and it seems he now believes them”, the statement added.
At that time, the family had only had five short phone calls from Ryan which totalled 44 minutes since he was detained in Afghanistan.
But the swap has reportedly been stalled by Taliban officials wanting to curry favor with Trump opting to wait until President-elect Trump takes up office, according to The Telegraph Friday.
The Independent contacted The White House for comment.
