Sister of American Hostage in Afghanistan Tells Trump Not to Leave Him Behind

The sister of U.S. Navy veteran and civil engineer Mark Frerichs — who was reportedly taken hostage by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan earlier this year — called on President Donald Trump to not leave her brother behind in an article for the New York Times on Monday.

In the article, titled “President Trump, Don’t Leave My Brother, a Hostage, Behind,” Charlene Cakora reacted to Trump’s meeting at the Republican National Convention with several ex-hostages last week.

“While we are happy for these former hostages, we had hoped that the president would have mentioned my brother, Mark Frerichs,” Cakora wrote Mark, adding, “My family and I fully support the president, whom we all voted for in 2016. But we worry that Mark is going to be left behind as President Trump moves forward with a peace accord with the Taliban.”

Noting White House negotiations for a peace deal in Afghanistan and pulling out of the troops, Cakora explained, “Once any pullout is announced, the Trump administration has little leverage to pressure the Haqqani network to release Mark. As it is, the government lost its best leverage when it signed the deal nearly a month after he was captured.”

Cakora went on to declare that they fear Frerichs “will be left behind” as “the Trump administration pushes a larger policy objective, before calling on Trump “to use his power to get Mark Frerichs home from captivity.”

Trump met with a group of freed hostages during the RNC last week, including Navy veteran Michael White, who was freed from Iran in June.

The president told the group, “We’re very proud of the job we did.”