amna: It's been nearly 17 months
since U.S. Pulled out of
Pakistan.
And they departed, that left an
American behind.
He was kidnapped and held
hostage by Taliban forces for
over 2.5 years.
He was released as part of a
prisoner swap last September and
is now adjusting to freedom and
life back in America.
I went to Lombard Illinois where
he is staying with family to sit
down with mark in his first
television interview since being
freed.
>> Just imagine Russell's
relaxing from your toes, your
ankles, up to your shins.
By the time it gets to your
head, you can't feel your body,
for me, anyway.
It's like you are sleeping, but
you are awake.
Your brain is totally aware of
what is going on in a room, and
you can do whatever you want.
Amna: This is how mark says he
survived two point five years
held hostage in Afghanistan.
His mind and body under brutal
conditions.
He has just marked three months
of freedom, back in his
hometown.
He spoke exclusively to newshour
in his first television
interview.
Amna: Growing up here in
Illinois, did you dream about
traveling the rest of the world?
>> I was in the Navy and did a
lot of traveling.
That got me interested in what
is going on in the rest of the
world.
This is stuff I sent here from
Afghanistan.
Amna: He left the Navy in the
mid-1980's, moved back to the
midwest and became a contractor,
building on his love of
craftsmanship.
You always put a secret
compartment into what you build?
?
Why did you do that >> Is just
my trading card when I build
stuff.
Amna: He jumped at the chance,
first to Iraq, then to
Afghanistan in 2009, where he
put his skills to good use.
You were there building things,
guess is the best way to put it.
>> The Afghan national army,
which included complete bases
with hospitals, dining
facilities, maintenance
facilities, classroom and office
facilities, living quarters.
Amna: You have always liked
building things, right?
>> It is fulfilling for me to
take nothing and turn it into
something.
Amna: Submittal sun with two
sisters, the shy kid who turned
to magic as a way to connect
with others.
Over 10 years in country, he
built a life.
Before long, he was relaxed, and
up to his old tricks.
You do everything in your to an
years there, I might get
kidnapped?
>> No.
I mean, you can't not think
about it.
Amna: Mark says he kept the same
driver and security for eight
years, but in January of 2020,
as he drove the familiar road to
check on a construction project,
the worst case scenario.
There's been a horrific
accident, you believe your team
is dead, you yourself are badly
injured.
What is the moment that you
realized this has gone horribly
wrong, I think I'm getting
kidnapped?
>> Remained in a ditch under the
hood of the car, nobody was
helping me.
Finally they helped me up out of
the ditch.
So I'm thinking, these guys are
going to help me to the
hospital.
Amna: What does it feel like in
the moment?
>> I could barely walk.
I was half conscious, half not
conscious.
They dragged me, and as they
were dragging me, and these are
words I will never forget,
probably the worst words of ever
heard in my lifetime.
Taliban good, America, no good.
Then he took my shoes and kicked
me in the jaw.
So that's when I knew.
Amna: And they started driving.
How long are you in that truck,
do you know?
>> At least two days.
Amna: He thought he was taken to
a stronghold of the Taliban
group who U.S. Officials
believed were holding him.
>> I could tell they were
organizing things before hand.
Amna: You call them kids, were
they like teenagers?
>> Like teenagers with guns.
Even if I could get away with
the -- away from these people,
where would I go?
I thought there were just going
to kill me.
They seemed like they didn't
know what they were doing.
Amna: U.S. Officials say they
believe mark may have been
surveilled, but that the
kidnapping on the heels of a
horrific car crash was a crime
of opportunity.
You were kept and what you've
described as a room with a dirt
floor and very little else.
What do you remember about what
it felt like in that room?
>> People.
-- Evil, cold, dank, actually
dry.
It rained a few times, the roof
leak.
Mice running around.
I had a bat flying around for a
couple of nights.
Scorpions.
Amna: What did you sleep on
every night?
>> Just the dark brown, hard
dirt.
Amna: What did you eat every
day?
>> Bread and water, mostly.
Stale bread, dirty water.
Amna: Could you move around
freely in that room?
>> No, my wrists were chained
and my ankles were chained.
Amna: For how long?
>> Two years.
Amna: What did they do to you?
>> Basically physical abuse.
Beat with a chain several times.
Kicked in the head more times
than I can count.
Just punched in the head more
times than I can count.
When I was down on the ground
chained up.
Open palm ear smacks, that was
probably the worst.
Amna: 32 months, your mind goes
to a lot of different places.
What do you remember thinking
about?
>> Besides meditating, I thought
a lot about my childhood.
Amna: Mark took me to those
childhood spots he would visit
in his mind.
>> This is where I used to I
skate -- ice skate when I was a
kid.
It's not very deep, if you fell
through the ice, you wouldn't
drown.
It was a safe, secure time when
you are a child.
Maybe a way to distract myself.
Amna: Distract himself from his
reality.
Held hostage in a remote part of
Afghanistan.
During his isolation in
captivity, he had no idea about
the coronavirus pandemic, or
that his government had brokered
a deal to withdraw all U.S.
Troops from Afghanistan in 2020
one, a deal that did not include
his release.
You were watching your country
leave.
What do you think?
>> Collateral damage.
Do they even know I'm here?
Amna: As a cruel joke, his
captors showed him videos of the
U.S. Pullout in August of 2021.
>> The last planes leaving.
Amna: Despite feeling abandoned
by his country, mark says he
never let his fear show.
>> The three years, I never
broke down and cried.
Came close, but I wasn't going
to let them.
They may have stolen nearly
three years of my life, but I
wasn't going to let them sit --
still my soul and spirit.
Geoff: His responsive what did
the room feel like, evil, that
speaks volumes.
What have the last four or five
months been like for him?
Amna: Just a whole new journey
that is unimaginable in so many
ways.
What this man endured is so
staggering.
Even more impressive for the
efforts to release him, what his
family went through and what he
is going through back at home
now.
We will get into all of that in
part two tomorrow.
Geoff: I can't wait to see it.