{"id":26341,"date":"2020-04-30T23:40:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T23:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/30\/navy-seals-tried-to-locate-us-citizen-abducted-by-afghan-militants\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:05:13","slug":"navy-seals-tried-to-locate-us-citizen-abducted-by-afghan-militants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/04\/30\/navy-seals-tried-to-locate-us-citizen-abducted-by-afghan-militants\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy SEALs tried to locate US citizen abducted by Afghan militants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 In the days following the January capture of an American contractor in Afghanistan, Navy SEAL commandos raided a village and detained suspected members of a Taliban-linked militant network, The Associated Press has learned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. intelligence agents also tried to track the cellphones of the man and his captors, but the trail went cold. There has been little public discussion by the U.S. government of Mark R. Frerichs\u2019 case<\/a>, even as American negotiators arranged prisoner exchanges<\/a> as part of their efforts to reach a peace deal with the Taliban<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little is known about the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the contractor from Illinois. But the previously unreported operation, described by multiple U.S. officials over the past month, sheds new light on the American government\u2019s efforts to locate him soon after he went missing and to collect intelligence aimed at his recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior U.S. government official and a second Defense Department official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The Pentagon and U.S. Special Operations Command declined to comment on the operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new details emerge as violence and political infighting in Kabul threaten to scuttle the peace deal between the Taliban and the U.S. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced frustrations after a failed attempt to mediate a power struggle between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frerichs\u2019 father, Art, said in a statement that though he has faith in President Donald Trump and Pompeo, \u201cI just need them to tell their people negotiating with the Taliban that America won\u2019t lift a finger until my son comes home. He\u2019s a veteran. This is America. We don\u2019t leave people behind.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though no formal demands are known to have been made, U.S. officials believe Frerichs was captured by members of the Haqqani network. The militant group is aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan and was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Haqqanis are known to carry out assassinations and kidnappings for ransom, but Taliban leadership has not acknowledged Frerichs\u2019 abduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first 96 hours is crucial,\u201d the senior U.S. government official briefed on the case told the AP. \u201cIf they\u2019re not recovered in the first few days, it becomes harder every minute after.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late January, the SEALs that would become involved in Frerichs\u2019 case spent the latter part of the month working to recover the bodies of two American service members<\/a> who died when their aircraft crash-landed in Ghazni in central Afghanistan, an operation that had been complicated by inclement weather. <\/p>\n\n\n\t