Kin of an American held in Afghanistan have notified the White House that they intend to negotiate with the Taliban themselves to secure his release because they are frustrated with the Harris-Biden administration’s approach.
George Glezmann, 65, of Atlanta, Ga., was taken hostage during a December 2022 tourist trip to Afghanistan. Ten months later, the State Department designated the Delta Air Lines mechanic as being ”wrongfully detained,” a label that directs more federal resources toward his case.
But Glezmann’s family insists it has been left in the dark by the Harris-Biden administration over any efforts to free him and said it now plans on taking matters into its own hands because of fear his health is deteriorating while in captivity.
“We are in the process of finalizing a meeting in Doha with the [Taliban] to try to recover George,” George Taylor, a Glezmann family representative, wrote in an email sent to top US officials last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the State Department’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens were among those notified of the Glezmann’s family last-ditch effort to push negotiations along.
In his missive, the family rep charged that the Harris-Biden administration has put little emphasis on getting Glezmann out of Afghanistan, while urging US officials “to exhibit the necessary courage and leadership that it takes to facilitate the release of George.”
In a separate previous letter to President Biden, Glezmann’s wife, Aleksandra, expressed concern that her husband’s case is being ignored because he is not a high-profile individual.
“We are not wealthy or famous people,” Aleksandra wrote in the July letter to the 81-year-old president. “I beseech you to intervene personally in George’s matter and do everything in your power to bring him home.”
Despite repeated inquiries, the wife has not been told by White House officials if Biden took time to read her letter, according to the Journal.
“[T]hey hit us with the old ‘classified’ card,” Taylor told the outlet about the government’s responses to the Glezmann family’s questions about what the administration is doing for its loved one.
“I have found that in most cases, that is used to hide failures or incompetence,” Taylor, a former federal law-enforcement agent, said of the response.
US officials have warned Taylor that meeting with the Taliban could complicate efforts to free Glezmann, claiming that discussions between the American government and the Islamic fundamentalist group regarding his potential release are in the works.
Taylor indicated that the family will hold off on talking with the Taliban, which has close ties to the terror group al Qaeda, until after US officials meet with the Afghan government representatives. But he said that if no progress is made on securing Glezmann’s release, he’ll hop on a flight to Qatar in hopes of speeding things along.
Aleksandra Glezmann, who is scheduled to meet with Sullivan on Sept. 11, noted that her husband suffers from a benign tumor that has impacted his vision and breathing.
“Now is the time to bring George Glezmann home,” she wrote in her letter to Biden.
The Harris-Biden administration has been criticized for allegedly focusing its hostage release efforts on wrongfully jailed celebrities and cases that have attracted widespread media attention, such as WNBA star Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia.
The administration has denied that is the case.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is actively working to secure the release of George and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage around the world,” said National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett, according to the Wall Street Journal.
