Mark Frerichs, US contractor kidnapped in 2020 released by Taliban

The Taliban has freed Mark Frerichs, an American engineer in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader linked to the group the US had held on drugs charges since 2005.

Frerichs is an engineer and U.S. Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was kidnapped in February 2020.

Biden said Frerichs' release was the culmination of work by U.S. officials and other governments. His administration has been under pressure from the families of Americans detained by hostile foreign governments, and Biden says he wants to increase efforts for their release.

Bashir Noorzai (the prisoner swapped) had been detained on charges of smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe. He was found guilty following a jury trial in New York back in September 2008 and sentenced to life in prison in 2009.