Wife of American languishing in Taliban custody says she’s been ‘ignored’ by White House
Anna Corbett is so desperate to get the Biden Administration to make good on its promise to help rescue her husband, detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan two years ago, that she made a video outside the West Wing last week begging the White House to help.
Saturday marks two years since her husband, 41-year-old Ryan Corbett, was arrested, along with three associates –- a German citizen and two Afghans –- on a business trip to northern Afghanistan.
“I’m not rich and famous,” the distraught wife told CBS News. “I don’t have as many resources as others. I just don’t know what else can be done.”
Last week Corbett, 43, was recorded outside the White House by her teenage daughter, Ketsia, pleading for meetings with President Biden and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“I am standing just yards away from the West Wing of the White House, where the president is sitting and where national security adviser Jake Sullivan is also sitting,” she said in the video in shaky voice. “When I met with [Sullivan] in January, he said that he would meet with me again by the State of the Union if Ryan wasn’t home.”
“I have written emails, I have asked to meet with him — they’ve all been ignored. He broke his promise to me,” Anna continued. “Please meet with me and do everything you can to bring Ryan home as soon as possible.”
The Corbetts lived in Kabul from 2010 to 2021. Ryan, who speaks Pashto, worked for local NGOs before starting a microloan and consulting business in the Afghan capital.
The family fled Kabul during the US withdrawal in August 2021, but Ryan returned a year later when the State Department’s travel advisory for Afghanistan was at its highest level — to support staffers of his business.
Corbett and his business associates were arrested days after a US drone strike killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, on July 31, 2022.
The associates have since been released.
Corbett was accused but never formally charged by the Taliban of anti-state activities — a common accusation against Westerners, and one his family denies.
Anna Corbett said she has learned that Ryan is being been kept in a windowless basement cell.
“He is definitely weakening and deteriorating,” Anna said.
“It should not be the case that only detainees with high profiles get this White House’s full attention,” she said in a statement.
