Bowe Bergdahl freed by Taliban after five years of captivity

[Marcus]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27651690

US soldier Bowe Bergdahl freed by Taliban in Afghanistan

A US soldier who has been held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly five years has been freed in deal that includes the release of five Afghan detainees, US officials say.

US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, 28, was handed over to US forces in good health, the officials said.

The five Afghan detainees have been released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

They were handed over to Qatar, which mediated the transfer.

Sgt Bergdahl was the only US soldier being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said Bergdahl's recovery "is a reminder of America's unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield''.

Officials said the Taliban had handed over Sgt Bergdahl over Saturday evening, local time, in eastern Afghanistan. Several dozen US special forces were involved in the exchange, they said, which took place near the Pakistani border.

He was in good condition and able to walk, and is expected to be transferred to Bagram Air Field, the main US base in Afghanistan, and then on to the United States.

Sgt Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, had been held since 30 June 2009.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sgt Bergdahl would be given "all the support he needs to help him recover from this ordeal, and we are grateful that he will soon be reunited with his family".

He thanked the emir of Qatar for his role in enabling the transfer to take place.

On the five Guantanamo detainees, he said: "The United States has co-ordinated closely with Qatar to ensure that security measures are in place and the national security of the United States will not be compromised."

Word is that the reason he was captured is because he willingly deserted his post that night and was picked up by the Taliban, and there's a lot of people that want to see him get a court martial. Some are even accusing him of willingly going with the Taliban. If the Army investigated that and believed it, though, why would they have promoted him twice when he was away?

On another note, this is very conveniently timed in my opinion, what with the egg on the face of the administration amid the massive VA scandal that's finally come to light.

Regardless, good to see a service member come home, especially one who has been over there for the past five years.

 

[mAo_mAo]

HOMELAND!

 

[theSTEREO.]

 

[Chris]

Can't imagine being in captivity for five years. I don't know if there is more to this story like you say, him deserting or whatever, but if it's just as it sounds...welcome home, soldier.

 

[Los216]

When I was deployed his picture was on every screen saver on every computer in Afghan. I know what happened and what led to him being away for a long time. It will be interesting to see how much spin they put on the story.

 

[Simon]

When I was deployed his picture was on every screen saver on every computer in Afghan. I know what happened and what led to him being away for a long time. It will be interesting to see how much spin they put on the story.

Thank you for your service!

Anyways, I also can't imagine being captured for five years. Glad he's home.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

When I was deployed his picture was on every screen saver on every computer in Afghan. I know what happened and what led to him being away for a long time. It will be interesting to see how much spin they put on the story.

So what happened -- without the spin?

I have mixed feelings on this. Prisoner exchanges are great when you can trust the other side to not use the released people as combatants. Here, I don't think that's something we can count on.

 

[Los216]

So what happened -- without the spin?

He willingly left his post and got in a Tata(Toyota Truck) with 3 members of the Afghan army. They were supposed to be going to get drinks at a spot off base in Afghanistan. He told the soldiers he was on post with that he was going there. This was a 24 hour duty that he was on. He wasn't forced to go or being held at will at the time he left. Since his event there was an order passed out there that didn't allow any military members other than those of the US to ride in non government vehicles.

Pretty much the only vehicles out there other than tactical military vehicles are pickup trucks and suvs that look exactly like toyotas, mercedes, and jeeps. There is no reason to be riding with a member of another countries military in any vehicle that is not a tactical vehicle.

Don't be surprised to see some negativity towards him from other service members.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

He willingly left his post and got in a Tata(Toyota Truck) with 3 members of the Afghan army. They were supposed to be going to get drinks at a spot off base in Afghanistan. He told the soldiers he was on post with that he was going there. This was a 24 hour duty that he was on. He wasn't forced to go or being held at will at the time he left. Since his event there was an order passed out there that didn't allow any military members other than those of the US to ride in non government vehicles.

Pretty much the only vehicles out there other than tactical military vehicles are pickup trucks and suvs that look exactly like toyotas, mercedes, and jeeps. There is no reason to be riding with a member of another countries military in any vehicle that is not a tactical vehicle.

Ah, that's really interesting. Makes sense in terms of the rumors that were out there as well.

Glad you came came back okay, too. Had a former comrade lose his son over there, and saw too many funerals here.

 

[Marcus]

He willingly left his post and got in a Tata(Toyota Truck) with 3 members of the Afghan army. They were supposed to be going to get drinks at a spot off base in Afghanistan. He told the soldiers he was on post with that he was going there. This was a 24 hour duty that he was on. He wasn't forced to go or being held at will at the time he left. Since his event there was an order passed out there that didn't allow any military members other than those of the US to ride in non government vehicles.

Pretty much the only vehicles out there other than tactical military vehicles are pickup trucks and suvs that look exactly like toyotas, mercedes, and jeeps. There is no reason to be riding with a member of another countries military in any vehicle that is not a tactical vehicle.

Don't be surprised to see some negativity towards him from other service members.

Twitter has exploded with another soldier's account of what happened. I think his handle is something along the lines of Cody Football. If what he's saying is true, it lines up exactly with a lot of what I've heard... and it is pretty messed up.

 

[Chardon]

Twitter has exploded with another soldier's account of what happened. I think his handle is something along the lines of Cody Football. If what he's saying is true, it lines up exactly with a lot of what I've heard... and it is pretty messed up.

Don't worry about posting it.

 

[Maximus]

Congress was not given any notice of the swap, let alone the 30 days required by law, so it wasn't even legal. Second, it sets an awful precedent. It basically says we now negotiate with terrorists. 5 terrorists with Americans blood on their hands for this 1 guy also seems like we got taken to the woodshed. I assure you that those 5 will be more eager to kill Americans now than ever before. Not to mention, Obama has created quite the incentive for terrorists to take Americans hostage.

This wreaks of a PR stunt by the Obama administration to take the attention off of the horrific VA Scandal, the 50th or so scandal of his pathetic administration.

 

[DCunleaded]

twitter.com/codyFNfooball

 

[Maximus]

https://twitter.com/CodyFNfootball

Wow, go back about 20 hours(right after the tweet about Lebron getting sexually harrassed by Lance :chuckles it's an amazing read. Bergdahl, who Cody refers to as "B", had stopped showering, was learning the enemy's language, committed a premeditated desertion, the villagers said he was saying he wanted to join the Taliban...AND we lost several soldiers to IED's while searching for this asshole.

We swapped 5 terrorists for this guy??? What in the name of fuck????

 

[Maximus]

OK, so this story goes from bad to worse. This wasn't any 5, it was "The Gitmo 5" that we gave them in exchange for a deserter that wanted to join the Taliban. The Gitmo 5 were the five highest ranking Taliban Commanders we HAD in custody. WTF?



Five of the Most Dangerous Taliban Commanders in U.S. Custody Exchanged for American Captive


Mullah Mohammad Fazl (Taliban army chief of staff): Fazl is “wanted by the UN for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiites.” Fazl “was associated with terrorist groups currently opposing U.S. and Coalition forces including al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and an Anti-Coalition Militia group known as Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami.” In addition to being one of the Taliban’s most experienced military commanders, Fazl worked closely with a top al Qaeda commander named Abdul Hadi al Iraqi, who headed al Qaeda’s main fighting unit in Afghanistan prior to 9/11 and is currently detained at Guantanamo.

Mullah Norullah Noori (senior Taliban military commander): Like Fazl, Noori is “wanted by the United Nations (UN) for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims.” Beginning in the mid-1990s, Noori “fought alongside al Qaeda as a Taliban military general, against the Northern alliance.” He continued to work closely with al Qaeda in the years that followed.

Abdul Haq Wasiq (Taliban deputy minister of intelligence): Wasiq arranged for al Qaeda members to provide crucial intelligence training prior to 9/11. The training was headed by Hamza Zubayr, an al Qaeda instructor who was killed during the same September 2002 raid that netted Ramzi Binalshibh, the point man for the 9/11 operation. Wasiq “was central to the Taliban's efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. and Coalition forces after the 11 September 2001 attacks,” according to a leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment.

Khairullah Khairkhwa (Taliban governor of the Herat province and former interior minister): Khairkhwa was the governor of Afghanistan’s westernmost province prior to 9/11. In that capacity, he executed sensitive missions for Mullah Omar, including helping to broker a secret deal with the Iranians. For much of the pre-9/11 period, Iran and the Taliban were bitter foes. But a Taliban delegation that included Kharikhwa helped secure Iran’s support for the Taliban’s efforts against the American-led coalition in late 2001. JTF-GTMO found that Khairkhwa was likely a major drug trafficker and deeply in bed with al Qaeda. He allegedly oversaw one of Osama bin Laden’s training facilities in Herat.

Mohammed Nabi (senior Taliban figure and security official): Nabi “was a senior Taliban official who served in multiple leadership roles.” Nabi “had strong operational ties to Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) groups including al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), some of whom remain active in ACM activities.” Intelligence cited in the JTF-GTMO files indicates that Nabi held weekly meetings with al Qaeda operatives to coordinate attacks against U.S.-led forces.