Daily Herald opinion: Frerichs' release from Taliban custody required difficult but welcome decisions

This editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board

Some of the Taliban rhetoric following the release of Lombard-native Mark Frerichs from the terrorist organization's custody carries odd undertones, but whatever the geopolitical implications of Frerichs' release, it is a source of great comfort and relief to know he has been freed to come home after more than two and a half years as a political pawn.

From the time the civil engineering contractor was lured into a trap in Afghanistan and abducted in January 2020, Frerichs' captivity never attracted the attention of the world in the way some high-profile foreign detentions of Americans have done — notably the cases in Russia involving imprisonments of WNBA star Britney Griner on drug charges and of Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine accused of spying. But its stakes were always high. The Taliban wanted to trade him for an accused Afghan drug lord whom prosecutors in New York had lured to the United States in the early 2000s, then arrested him and put him on trial.

Bashir Noorzai, an influential Pashtun tribal leader who reportedly had close ties to Taliban co-founder Mohammed Omar, was convicted in 2005 of smuggling heroin valued at more than $50 million into the United States and sentenced to life in prison.

Ultimately, the Taliban's perseverance was rewarded. The White House announced Monday that Noorzai would be freed as part of a deal to free Frerichs. But the exchange is no particular victory for Noorzai, who at 61, had been imprisoned in the United States for 17 years and is said to be in poor health.

Upon his release, he expressed hope the prisoner exchange “can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America,” and a Taliban spokesman added a similar call for “a new era” in relations with the U.S. That degree of optimism seems a bit unjustified in today's climate, but the deal at least demonstrates that a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and the United States can maintain some level of constructive communication.

More to the point, the deal was the culmination, according to U.S. officials, of months of carefully managed negotiations that ultimately required the direct intervention of President Joe Biden, who acknowledged he understood the serious implications of setting free a major drug lord with ties to terrorism.

“Bringing the negotiations that led to Mark's freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly,” Biden said in a release.

Frerichs' family was understandably appreciative.

“There were some folks arguing against the deal that brought Mark home, but President Biden did what was right. He saved the life of an innocent American veteran,” said Charlene Cakora, Frerichs' sister.

Ultimately, Biden likely had only one option if Frerichs was ever to be free. Taking it was not without risk or controversy, but we share the gratitude of the Frerichs family that he took it, leading to at least one happy ending from a 20-year story in Afghanistan that had all too few of them.