After nearly two years of failure from the White House, the family of a detained American turned to the Taliban in an effort to get their loved one released.
Nearly 11 months after the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel, it took another tragedy in Gaza to spur the lame-duck president to return from the beach and his vice president to break from her basement campaign as they converged in the Situation Room. However, the murder of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin only underscored the administration’s failures as the family of George Glezmann sought to take matters into their own hands. The American hostage has remained captive since Dec. 2022.
“We are in the process of finalizing a meeting in Doha with the [Taliban] to try to recover George,” an email from family representative George Taylor read, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper recounted how the Delta Airlines mechanic had been touring Afghanistan when he was seized by the Taliban. Taylor, a general manager for corporate security at Delta, gave U.S. officials one final chance to make progress before jetting to Doha, Qatar to meet with a representative of the Taliban.
In representing the Glezmann family, the email sent to officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and hostage negotiator Roger Carstens had implored the government “to exhibit the necessary courage and leadership that it takes to facilitate the release of George.”
Unlike the coverage of the detention of WNBA player Brittney Griner in Russia, the American captive’s wife noted in a letter to President Joe Biden in July, “We are not wealthy or famous people.”
“I beseech you to intervene personally in George’s matter and do everything in your power to bring him home,” she said while the NSC had reportedly declined to comment on whether or not Biden was even aware of the letter.
On Aug. 8, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller addressed the matter of three Americans being held including Glezmann, and said, “This weekend, on August 10, marks two years since Mahmood Habibi and Ryan Corbett were taken captive in separate incidents in Afghanistan. That’s two years that they have been separated from their families.”
“We are deeply concerned about the well-being of Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan — Mahmood, Ryan, and George Glezmann — and raise their detentions in every engagement we have with the Taliban,” he claimed. “Bringing them home will continue to be a top priority for the United States as we work to obtain their release.”
Previously, Corbett’s wife, Anna Corbett, had commented on her husband’s captivity in the same cell with Glezmann as NBC News reported, that he “survives on scraps of fatty meat, must request access to the bathroom, and rarely has access to sunlight, according to prisoners who once shared his cell and have since been released.
“I was really scared to put Ryan at risk,” she told the outlet. “I was advised to not raise his profile, raise his value, but it’s just become clear that he has a high value.”
During congressional testimony, Corbett stated, “I’ve been reassured Ryan is important. They’re not gonna let anything happen. But…this man almost died.”
While it was unclear who the fellow prisoner was who twice suffered sepsis, Ryan Corbett was said to have experienced fainting, seizures, and discolored extremities while Glezmann’s wife had cited her own husband’s deteriorating health when she voiced hope for a meeting sooner than the one scheduled with Sullivan for Sept. 11.
The Journal detailed how she said he had a benign tumor, was losing vision in one eye, and had been experiencing breathing difficulties while in detention as she expressed, “Now is the time to bring George Glezzman home.”
Still, the State Department and NSC warned that a meeting with the Taliban would complicate efforts toward the release of Glezmann.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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