EXCLUSIVE: Wife Of American Detained By Taliban Reveals What Biden Told Her In Long-Awaited Call
Anna Corbett, the wife of Ryan Corbett, an American being held hostage by the Taliban, said that she doesn’t believe President Joe Biden will bring her husband home in his final days in office, she shared in an interview with the Daily Caller.
The White House announced Sunday that Biden called the families of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmoud Habibi — the Americans detained by the Taliban since 2022 – to discuss the “government’s continuing efforts to reunite these three Americans with their families.” The wife of Ryan Corbett, Anna Corbett, told the Caller that the phone call, despite 16 prior trips to D.C., was the first time she and the president had spoken in the nearly two and a half years since her husband was taken hostage. During the 30 minute phone call, Biden expressed that they were unable to get a deal done and because of such, Ryan would not be coming home in the final days of his administration, Anna told the Caller.
“He gave us about 30 minutes, I would say, on the call, and he was very gracious, but basically said he is not bringing Ryan home, and that was very disappointing to hear that we come this far,” Anna told the Caller.
“It seems like the administration is haunted by Afghanistan, and there is a deal on the table. I don’t have all the details, but it seems like there is a way to bring Ryan home, and it’s not being taken. So that just adds to the disappointment,” Anna told the Caller.
The White House National Security Council referred the Caller to its announcement on the call when asked if the president had told the families he was unable to bring their loved ones home. The read out of the call adds that Biden “emphasized his Administration’s commitment to the cause of bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas.”
“I’ve taken 16 trips to DC and 885 days of wrongful detainment, climaxing to this point is just really tough, it was just really tough to hear,” Anna told the Caller of her conversation with Biden.
“I was hoping for an in-person meeting, which would have been so much easier and better and yeah, it’s just disappointing to only have a phone call,” she added.
It’s the end of the day in Mar-a-Lago. Anna and Ketsia didn’t get a meeting with President Trump today but we are still hopeful. Thank you for following us as we try to reach @realdonaldtrump. Please share! We need to bring Ryan home! #freeryancorbett pic.twitter.com/a33nzrBK5U
— Free Ryan Corbett (@freeryancorbett) January 11, 2025
On Friday, Anna Corbett dropped everything, packed her bags and spontaneously flew down to Palm Beach in an attempt to get a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. Trump had revealed 12 hours earlier that he would be receiving a briefing on the Americans being held hostage by the Taliban and the report that the Biden administration has a deal on the table. The comment gave Anna hope, and at the time of publication she remains in Palm Beach trying to get a meeting with the president-elect. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Trump Is A Deal Man’: Wife Of American Hostage Ryan Corbett Explains Why She Flew To Mar-A-Lago)
Anna told the Caller that she has made progress since arriving in Palm Beach and has had some positive interactions with Trump’s team since making the trip. Her congresswoman, New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney has also been “very engaged” in Anna’s trip and her efforts to get Corbett home, Anna told the Caller.
“I’m thankful that it looks like our family is being more prioritized than what I’ve experienced in the last almost two and a half years,” Anna told the Caller.
A U.S. citizen from upstate New York, Ryan Corbett and his family previously lived in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2021, according to a website dedicated to bringing him home. While in Afghanistan, Corbett was running local NGOs before starting a microloan and consulting business in the country.
US President Joe Biden, with Vice President Kamala Harris, responds to questions about the ongoing US military evacuations of US citizens and vulnerable Afghans, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 20, 2021. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
After the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Corbett and his family fled but he eventually made the decision to go back to get his business visa renewed and visit his staff in January 2022. It was during his second visit using his business visa in August 2022 that Corbett was captured by the Taliban.
With about a week left in Biden’s administration, the president’s team has been in talks with the Taliban about an agreement to bring the Americans home since at least July, and proposed in November that the group release three Americans in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, an Afghan who the U.S. government claims was a high-ranking al Qaeda aide, sources told the WSJ.
The Taliban countered the Biden administration’s deal the same day it was offered, according to the WSJ. In the counter, the Taliban proposed receiving Rahim and two others for Glezmann and Corbett but National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in December that Biden has yet to decide on the deal.
Anna spoke with Ryan this morning and told him she’s in Mar-a-Lago hoping to meet with @realDonaldTrump #freeryancorbett pic.twitter.com/CYRTjfYc6I
— Free Ryan Corbett (@freeryancorbett) January 12, 2025
Anna revealed on X/Twitter that she spoke to her husband on Sunday and expressed to him her optimism for his release since being down in Palm Beach. Anna told the Caller that the current administration in conjunction with the Qataris have scheduled regular 10-15 minute phone calls with her husband. She last spoke to him on Christmas day.
“We feel this big gap without Ryan in our family, and it’s not getting any easier. Maybe people think because we have this life that’s the four of us, and Ryan’s kind of not part of it, it would be easier day by day, but it actually is harder, because we miss him so much, and we think about him all the time,” Anna told the Caller.
