Rauf and his brother Anes Khalil, a green card holder, were detained by the Taliban on December 18. After more than 100 days of intense negotiations between the Biden government and their captors, the Rauf brothers were released earlier on Friday. In a statement originally received by CNN, Safi Rauf announced on Friday that “we were released because of the efforts of the US government (mainly Political Officer JP Feldmayer, Special Representative Tom West and Lt. Col. Jason Hock). family and loved ones, the Qatari government, the British government, our Human First Coalition team and countless friends in the country, in the region and around the world. “ A Human First Coalition source told CNN that Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, former New York Democrat Nita Lowey and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan were also instrumental in Rauf’s release. “Safiullah Rauf and Anees Khalil have been released after being held unjustly in Afghanistan,” Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, said on Friday. “They are now in Qatar before traveling home. We are grateful for the efforts of all those who worked to secure their release, but there is still more work to be done. their will is able to embrace their families once again “. A State Department official added: “These individuals have been detained in Afghanistan since December. When it became clear that they would not be allowed to leave, we designed and implemented an approach to negotiate their release and reunification with their loved ones. an interdepartmental team that captured, planned and carried out this important mission to bring home an American citizen and an American legal resident. We also took the opportunity to push again for the release of Mark Frerichs, as we do in every meeting we “We will never, anywhere, give up our efforts to repatriate unjustly detained Americans – be they Venezuela, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria, China, Iran or elsewhere.” Frerichs, also a Navy veteran, remains in Taliban custody. Frerichs, a civil engineer working on development projects in Afghanistan, was abducted before the signing of the February 2020 agreement between the Trump administration and the Taliban. Born in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan, Safi Rauf came to the United States and graduated from high school in Omaha, Nebraska. Enlisted in the US Special Forces as a linguist in Afghanistan for four years, he returned to the US and enlisted in the US Navy Reserve Forces. “Anne and I would like to thank all those who worked tirelessly to secure our release and all those who supported the Human First Coalition’s humanitarian efforts,” Rauf said in a statement. “Right now, we look forward to reuniting with our family and loved ones, and finally, I hope we continue to support and seek ways to serve the Afghan people in this critical time of need in Afghanistan.” Rauf also said, “We understand that this extremely unfortunate situation arose out of misunderstanding; we did nothing wrong.” Rauf’s release comes as the Taliban continue to seek recognition of Afghanistan as the legitimate government of the United States and other Western nations. Since coming to power again in August 2021, as the Biden government withdrew all US troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have captured at least eight Westerners, CNN reported in February, including the Rauf brothers. During the US withdrawal, they worked with the Taliban amid a chaotic evacuation of foreigners and Afghans from Kabul. Since then, U.S. officials have been in regular contact, but there are still dozens of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave the country but were unable to do so because there were no regular evacuation flights. This story has been updated with additional reactions and background information. CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Peter Bergen and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
