Taliban says detained American in Afghanistan has been traded for drug lord

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- An American contractor who's been held in Afghanistan for more than two years will soon be on his way home after a prisoner swap with an Afghan drug lord, relatives and Taliban officials said Monday.

The Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal a year ago, released contractor Mark Frerichs on Monday, according to Frerichs' family. He'd been in captivity since 2020.

Frerichs was swapped for Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader and accused drug trafficker who's been in U.S. custody since 2005. He was serving a life sentence in the United States.

Frerichs is a Navy veteran who'd been living and working in Kabul for about a decade when he was abducted.

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