Navy veteran Mark Frerichs will be safely returned home.

Over the weekend, after two years of being detained in a prison in Afghanistan, United States citizen and Navy veteran Mark Frerichs has been successfully released and will be safely returned to American soil. Frerichs was released back to the US as part of a prisoner swap; his counterpart is Haji Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban member who had been imprisoned in the US for the past 17 years on drug trafficking charges.

“Bringing Mark home has been a top priority for President Biden and his national security team,” a senior official of the Biden Administration said in a public statement.

Frerichs had originally been working as a contract construction worker in Afghanistan in 2020 when he was abducted by individuals believed to be associated with Taliban sub-group the Haqqani network. According to those who received him in the swap, he seems to be in good physical and mental condition, and was capable of walking by himself.

Frerichs’s sister, Charlene Cakora, thanked President Biden for securing her brother’s release. “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.”

“I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage,” Cakora said. “We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us.”