Because they can? That is what it looks like. An American family living in Afghanistan when the U.S. military withdrew in August 2021 had a matter of hours to pack up and get ready to leave. The husband, wife, and their three children stuffed everything into five carry-on suitcases.

Ryan and Anna Corbett loved living in Afghanistan. .They moved there from Minneapolis in 2010. They put down roots, raised pets and their third child, Caleb, was born there in 2011. Anna homeschooled the children and her husband started a business.

For the first few years, Ryan worked with local NGOs. In 2017, he founded Bloom Afghanistan, a business consultancy focused on strengthening Afghanistan’s private sector. He taught business and helped Afghans get microloans to buy livestock and auto rickshaws.

“He learned Pashto, and had a lot of relationships, and really enjoyed helping men find their way forward and find ways they could make their country better,” Anna said.

In August 2021, as Kabul rapidly fell to the Taliban and the family waited to evacuate through the French embassy, Anna, a dual French-American citizen, said she found the city “completely different.”

“No more women, just Taliban men at roundabouts,” she said. “It just was so strange. It was like, ‘I don’t recognize this place anymore.'”

Almost exactly a year later, on Aug. 10, 2022, Ryan Corbett was back in northern Afghanistan on a business trip when he and three of his colleagues were arrested by the Taliban. Anna hasn’t seen her husband since.

His capture was not from the family’s exit from Afghanistan in 2021 but when he went back about a year later because he didn’t want to abandon his business and the employees. He considered the business as a way of service to people who were in need. They settled in New York after leaving Afghanistan. They debated whether or not Ryan should return, given that the Taliban were running the country and the State Department warned Americans to not travel there. The State Department warned of the risk of kidnapping and potential violence against U.S. citizens.

Ryan decided to return anyway. Anna said Ryan thought he would be ok.

Asked by CBS News why Ryan chose to risk traveling, Anna replied, “He had a business visa. He had been living there since 2010. He knew the language. He knew the culture.”

“He did not want to abandon his employees and shut that down just for his own comfort,” she continued. “So it was really for the Afghans and for his staff that he returned.”

In January 2022, after extensive deliberation, Anna and Ryan agreed he should take a short trip to renew his visa, which was close to expiring.

“When he went to the [Taliban government’s] Ministry of Commerce, they said, ‘This is such a great business. We love what you’re doing,'” Anna recalled.

Encouraged by the positive reception, Ryan made a second trip to Afghanistan that August. On Aug. 10, while traveling in the northern part of the country with three colleagues — a German citizen and two Afghans — Ryan and the others were taken by the police to local headquarters.

That last trip pushed the envelope. Hindsight is 20/20 but I’ll offer my two cents anyway. We’re talking Afghanistan here. The Taliban are not honorable people. They are no better than Hamas. Americans are sometimes naive and this looks like one of those times. I understand his desire to continue and to be of service where he was needed but this was a poor decision. He should have closed the business and put himself and his family first, even if he thought that would be selfish.

The German citizen and the two Afghans have been released. Ryan is being held today. The detention of the four men happened days after a U.S. drone killed Ayman al-Zawarihi, the then-leader of al-Qaeda.

Asked if she thought there was any connection between the two events, Anna said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

The two Afghan nationals have since been released, as has Ryan’s German colleague. Ryan, meanwhile, marked 16 months in an Afghan facility run by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), this December.

Taliban intelligence officials told CBS News that Ryan was accused of anti-state activities. It is a common accusation made against Westerners, and one Ryan’s family says is baseless.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to realize the Taliban wanted an American hostage after that drone attack.

In the meantime, Anna is starting to speak up and speak out. That is so important. American families remain silent at first out of concern for the safety of their loved one but in the end, it usually makes little difference. We keep seeing this happen. We see it in Russia, for example, where Putin is angry about the U.S. involvement in Ukraine. Putin has American citizens in detention, including two journalists. That is an escalation.

It took over a year for the State Department to determine that Ryan was wrongfully detained. This makes available additional diplomatic and intelligence tools the U.S. government can use, including potential prisoner swaps. One reason it took so long was because there were internal deliberations over whether making the designation would legitimize the Taliban as a governing entity. The U.S. has not recognized the Taliban as such and doesn’t want to do so now.

Anna was never given a clear answer about what took so long but she is grateful that is finally happened. She is now worried, as the weeks pass, if the Biden administration is doing all they can to get her husband released. Given all that is going on in the world right now, that is a legitimate concern. She is coming forward now and telling Ryan’s story. I think that’s the best way for her to keep his story in front of press coverage. She has to be a squeaky wheel until she gets her husband home to his family.

On Nov. 14, Anna testified publicly for the first time before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, telling the panel her husband had been kept in “deplorable and inhuman conditions,” and that he had been charged with no crime. She said she feared for his physical and mental health.

Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, told CBS News the Corbetts were an “amazing family whose kindness and passion for helping others is obvious.”

“Ryan does not deserve what is happening to him, and I will never stop advocating for his release,” he said.

Sources familiar with the matter said that the Taliban are currently holding as many as six Americans, including Ryan. Some have been taken hostage recently, within the past few months. Two other Americans have, like Ryan, been deemed wrongfully detained.

Six Americans. I wonder about the other five. More recent detentions. Bad actors feel emboldened during Biden’s presidency. He’s a weak presence on the world stage. That puts American lives in danger.