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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville couple has a renewed sense of optimism after senators on both sides of the aisle called for the U.S. to do more to secure the release of their son from the hands of the Taliban.

Late Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution calling for the release of Ryan Corbett. He has been held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban since August 2022. He will be spending his 41st birthday on April 13 as a prisoner of the Taliban. He has been held in a cell in a basement in Kabul, with limited access to food, sunlight and the outside world.

Ryan was living in the country with his wife, Anna and their children after moving there in 2010 to start a company to help Afghans start their own businesses.

They had to flee the country with thousands of others when the Taliban took over in August of 2021. He returned the following year. That was when he was taken.

Ryan's family hasn't seen him for nearly two years, and they have been pleading for help from the U.S. to get him released. As the months continued to pass, they began to lose hope. But his father returned from a visit to the nation's capital recently with the feeling that lawmakers are finally responding to his pleas. 

Ryan's father now feels hopeful again, after Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer introduced a Senate Resolution calling for his release earlier this week. Late Thursday afternoon, Schumer said on social media that  the resolution had passed. 

"It was kind of shocking to be honest with you, to hear Ryan Corbett's name on the floor of the Senate," Drue said. 

"Our resolution reaffirms America’s commitment to freeing Ryan and raises the international stakes of the Taliban’s wrongful imprisonment of American citizens," McConnell said in a news release, a statement he echoed on the Senate floor. "Earlier this afternoon, I had a chance to meet with Ryan’s wife, Anna, their three children, and his parents, Drue and Evelyn, from Louisville. Now more than ever, they fear for Ryan’s life. As long as Ryan sits in captivity, I will continue to call on the Biden Administration to do more to bring him home. It’s time to put the Taliban’s violent rule on notice and show our enemies that the United States will not let American citizens be used as bargaining chips."

Drue was encouraged by the fact that the resolution was introduced by the top Democratic and Republican leaders in the Congress. 

"As long as Ryan is held by the Taliban, I will never stop fighting to bring him back home and reunite him with Anna, his children, his family as quickly as possible," Schumer said on the floor of the Senate. 

The United States Agency for International Development says the U.S. is the single largest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan, providing nearly $2 billion in aid between August 2021 and October 2023. 

The Corbetts don't know if there have been any demands made by the Taliban for their son's release. They only know there have been "negotiations."

Drue has a message he wants the U.S. to deliver to his son's captors: "Tell Afghanistan that we're coming to get Ryan or your money dries up tomorrow, every penny. It seems like a simple fix to say: 'no more, bring our hostages home. Not just Ryan but anybody else who happens to be there.'"

Although optimistic, Ryan's family knows his release will take time. 

"We have no illusion that this is something easy and a phone call will get Ryan out," Drue said. "We know it's more than that, and we know there are a lot of people --  hundreds literally -- behind the scenes working to get Ryan out."

Drue said the resolution should serve as "a warning to the Taliban. This is a heads up for you. This has to end."

The family continues to urge people to reach out to Congress to get him back home.

To read about the resolution, click here. To learn more about Ryan's story, click here.

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