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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe. Today, we're joined by Anna Corbett, wife of Ryan Corbett, who's been unlawfully detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan for over two years. Anna, thank you so much for coming on.
--:-- Anna Corbett: Thank you for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Let's start with your husband's story. Ryan moved your family to Afghanistan in 2010, where he started a business and became active in the community. But the Corbett family later evacuated during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, leaving everything behind. Upon returning to his business in 2022, Ryan Corbett and several others were captured by the Taliban. Two years later, he remains a prisoner. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened?
--:-- Anna Corbett: Ryan had started a business in Kabul, and when we had to evacuate as a family when the Taliban took over, he did not want to leave his staff behind. He didn't want to abandon what was going on and making a difference in the Afghan people's lives. And so he kept his business open from a distance. We moved back here to New York. And he took one trip in January 2022, no problems, renewed his visa smoothly, was given a warm welcome. And then on the second trip in August 2022, he was detained and has been held since.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's incredible. And I understand that Ryan was trying to help the Afghan people, and there have been no accusations, no charges against him. And he was designated as wrongfully detained by our government. All right, so the government officially states that he wrongfully detained yet has not taken the action to get him back.
--:-- Anna Corbett: That's correct.
--:-- John Bickley: Anna, you've been really working to raise awareness and advocate for Ryan's release. That recently led you to talking on the phone with President Biden himself. First, how did that call go?
--:-- Anna Corbett: It was a difficult call. I had just received a call from Ryan in the morning. I was traveling. There was a lot in my head and a lot of hope going into that call. And although he was kind and sympathetic to our family and obviously tracking the situation, hearing from him that he did not seem to be bringing Ryan home and taking a deal on the table was devastating and obviously very disappointing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Was this the first time that you had talked to President Biden?
--:-- Anna Corbett: It was the first time. And I had been asking for an in-person meeting for a long time. And that was also disappointing just to have a phone call with no video with him. That's very frustrating.
--:-- John Bickley: What's keeping the president from taking this deal? I don't know. I am honestly very confused because I have raised a lot of attention and advocated very hard for Ryan. I've taken 16 trips to D.C., worked in a very bipartisan way, helped pass a House and a Senate resolution. And I'm surprised that more progress wasn't made during this administration. And wonder, is there fear because it's Afghanistan, because of the withdrawal that happened and how it happened? I don't know, but it's very frustrating from where I sit.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Because, as you know, I took a trip down to Florida, to West Palm Beach, and am working on advocating with the incoming administration. And it's taking a lot of effort from our family.
--:-- Anna Corbett: Yeah, I'm sure.
--:-- John Bickley: What has been the tone from the incoming administration, the Trump administration?
--:-- Anna Corbett: This past weekend, I flew down to Florida with my oldest daughter, Ketia, and put in requests to meet with President Trump, unsure of what the outcome of the trip would be, but wanting to do my part in raising awareness for Ryan. And I was incredibly encouraged to meet with my congresswoman. She was down in Florida and gave me a lot of time and support. And also to see that President Trump sent his incoming national security advisor to me just within 48 hours of being down in Florida. And he gave us over an hour of his time. I had to beg and work so hard to have a meeting with the current national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and it took 16 months to meet with him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Trump's national security advisor, Mike Waltz, came to talk to you in person within just a couple of days. But Biden's advisor delayed 16 months. I can't imagine the frustration there.
--:-- Anna Corbett: Can you tell us about your husband's situation? How long has he been there? What are the conditions? How's he doing?
--:-- Anna Corbett: Ryan has been held now by the Taliban since August 10th of 2022, almost two and a half years now, very close to 900 days. Which I hate saying because we have felt every hour of those 900 days. And he has been held in bad conditions, recently was moved, and so his conditions improved a little bit. He is receiving better food but he lost a lot of weight. This is having a bad effect on his health. Obviously, he's only 41 and having constant headaches, ringing in his ears, fainting, discolored extremities. I mean, he's told me that I wouldn't recognize him. And our communication was very sparse for a long time now. It's been about every two weeks, which helps, but it's my husband of almost 21 years, and I don't know where he is. I never know when I'll hear from him. I'm super grateful. I have to say the Qataris have really helped set up the phone calls and make sure they happen every two weeks and even recently worked on lengthening them, but it's a terrible situation, and I keep highlighting, like, he's a dad. He wants to see his kids grow up. He missed his daughter's high school graduation. She was prom queen. He missed that. He couldn't walk her out for homecoming court. He can't watch his son play basketball. He's never watched his son play basketball. And these are opportunities that every dad wants to have and needs to have with his kids. And it's just devastating what is going on here that he cannot be part of that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Again, I can't imagine. For those not familiar with your story, what led to your husband's capture? How did this all get started?
--:-- Anna Corbett: We lived in Afghanistan as a family. I know that's unusual, but we lived there for almost 12 years and he had started a business in Kabul. And when we had to evacuate as a family when the Taliban took over, he did not want to leave his staff behind. He didn't want to abandon what was going on and making a difference in the Afghan people's lives. And so he kept his business open from a distance. We moved back here to New York. And he took one trip in January 2022, no problems, renewed his visa smoothly, was given a warm welcome. And then on the second trip in August 2022, he was detained and has been held since.
--:-- John Bickley: So the government officially states that he wrongfully detained yet has not taken the action to get him back.
--:-- Anna Corbett: That's correct.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What steps are you taking now? What ways can people help in this situation? Is there anything our listeners can do?
--:-- Anna Corbett: Your listeners can continue praying for Ryan and our family, that we will continue hoping and staying strong each day. Also, we have a website, freeryancorbet.com, with a lot of information. And now that this current administration is almost finished, we're needing to focus on the incoming administration and we will have information on the website on how to do that and how people can get the word out that this is going on and it's completely undressed. And I believe every family out there can empathize with what we're going through, that when one family member is going through a horrible situation, we all feel it constantly. And until Ryan's home, we cannot rest and even enjoy the opportunities we have in our freedom here in the States because Ryan's still being held and has only access to sunlight a couple times a day and has no choices and is missing so much in his family's life.
--:-- John Bickley: If you could deliver a direct message to Donald Trump as he's set to return to the White House this week, what would that be?
--:-- Anna Corbett: I would say to him, please remember Ryan and please do everything you can to bring Ryan home. And I would ask the incoming administration, including incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz that I've spoken with and others involved in roles to bring Ryan home to prioritize our family. Also, George is held with Ryan. He's in the same cell, same situation, wrongfully detained, and his family needs him as well. So there are U.S. citizens that are alive. There's proof of life. We just spoke to Ryan on Sunday, and they need to come home.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, our prayers are certainly with your husband, Ryan, and with George. Glazeman. And your talk with Trump's National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, is definitely encouraging. And thank you so much for talking with us.
--:-- Anna Corbett: Thank you very much.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Anna Corbett, wife of Ryan Corbett. And this has been a special edition of Morning Wire.
