Biden comments on American hostage in Afghanistan released in prisoner swap

Mark Frerichs -- the last-known American hostage being held by the Taliban -- has been released in a prisoner exchange, President Joe Biden confirmed in a statement on Monday.

The senior administration officials said Noorzai had been held in a federal prison in the United States but not at Guantanamo Bay as had been reported.

I applaud President Biden, who I spoke with personally about the need to get Mark home, for taking the steps necessary to prove that we do not leave Americans behind," Duckworth said in a statement on Monday.

During a United Nations General Assembly event on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed Frerichs' freedom, extending gratitude to the department's Special Presidental Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, whom he said he was now with Frerichs in Doha.

"I want the families of Americans who are being arbitrarily detained and held hostage anywhere in the world to know that our commitment to them, bringing their loved ones home is resolute and we will relentlessly continue to focus on doing just that," said Blinken.

In his statement, Biden pledged his administration would continue to "prioritize the safe return of all Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad."

Asked whether these kinds of exchanges could encourage foreign governments to hold Americans as leverage, the senior Biden officials pointed to the executive order President Biden signed in July aimed at deterring the practice and said the administration would continue to stress to the Taliban that they could not wrongfully detain Americans