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American P.O.W. Is Freed in Trade With the Taliban American Soldier Freed by Taliban in Prisoner Trade
(35 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, Obama administration officials said Saturday. WASHINGTON — The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Obama administration officials said Saturday.
The soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, was handed over to American Special Operations forces inside Afghanistan about 10:30 a.m. Saturday by a group of 18 Taliban, officials said. The soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, was handed over to American Special Operations troops inside Afghanistan near the Pakistan border about 10:30 a.m. Saturday in a tense but uneventful exchange with 18 Taliban officials, American officials said. Moments later, Sergeant Bergdahl was whisked away by the helicopter-borne commandos, American officials said. He was found in good condition and able to walk.
American officials said that Sergeant Bergdahl was in good condition and able to walk. The five Taliban detainees at Guantánamo, including two senior militant commanders said to be implicated in murdering thousands of Shiites in Afghanistan, were being transferred to the custody of officials from Qatar, who will accompany them back to that Persian Gulf state, where they will be subject to security restrictions, including a one-year travel ban.
The five Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo were being transferred into the custody of officials from Qatar, who will accompany them back to that Persian Gulf state, where they will be subject to security restrictions, including a one-year travel ban. All five Taliban members being released are considered to be among the most senior militants at Guantánamo and would otherwise be among the last to leave. Senior administration officials cautioned that the discussions over the prisoner swap, which were secretly restarted last fall after collapsing several months earlier, did not necessarily presage the resumption of the broader, on-again-off-again peace talks to end the 13-year war.
Talks on the exchange resumed in earnest about a week ago with Qatari officials who were acting as intermediaries for the Taliban. “This is the only issue we’ve discussed with the Taliban in recent months,” said one senior Obama administration official involved in the talks. “We do hope that having succeeded in this narrow but important step, it will create the possibility of expanding the dialogue to other issues. But we don’t have any promises to that effect.”
President Obama personally telephoned the soldier’s parents on Saturday, shortly after Sergeant Bergdahl was transferred to the American military; the Bergdahl family was in Washington after a visit here for Memorial Day, officials said. A Western official in Kabul said the Afghan government was not told ahead of time that the Taliban were going to hand over Sergeant Bergdahl or that the release of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay was proceeding, though the Afghans were broadly aware that the talks had been rekindled. American officials feared leaks could scuttle the deal.
“Sergeant Bergdahl’s recovery is a reminder of America’s unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield,” President Obama said in a statement. President Obama personally called the soldier’s parents on Saturday, shortly after Sergeant Bergdahl was transferred to the American military; the Bergdahl family was in Washington after a visit here for Memorial Day, officials said.
The sergeant’s parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, said in a statement: “We were so joyful and relieved when President Obama called us today to give us the news that Bowe is finally coming home! We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son.” “Sergeant Bergdahl’s recovery is a reminder of America’s unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.
Sergeant Bergdahl is believed to have been held by the militant Haqqani network in the tribal area of Pakistan’s northwest frontier, on the Afghan border. He was captured in Paktika Province in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. Bob and Jani Bergdahl, the parents of Sergeant Bergdahl, who have waged a tireless campaign for their son’s release, have sometimes criticized the Obama administration for lack of action. But in a statement from the family released Saturday, they praised the American and Qatari governments for their help. “We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son,” they said. “Today, we are ecstatic!”
Negotiations and internal deliberations over the potential for a swap have waxed and waned for years, but they intensified in the past several weeks as an agreement appeared within reach, according to an official familiar with the matter.
Among other complications, there was a potential legal obstacle: Congress has imposed statutory restrictions on the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay. The statutes say the secretary of defense must determine that a transfer is in the interest of national security, that steps have been taken to substantially mitigate a future threat by a released detainee, and that the secretary notify Congress 30 days before any transfer of his determination.
In this case, the administration did not notify Congress ahead of time, officials said. They noted that Mr. Obama has claimed that the transfer restrictions are a potentially unconstitutional intrusion on his powers as the commander in chief. Last December, he issued a signing statement claiming that he could lawfully override them. An administration official said the circumstances of a fast-moving prisoner exchange deal made it appropriate to act outside the statutory framework for transfers.
The top Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services committees, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, and Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said the release of the Taliban prisoners  “clearly violated laws” governing the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay.
The transfer reduces the detainee population at Guantánamo to 149. They include 12 Afghan nationals — each of whom were deemed far less important and dangerous than the five who were included in the swap.
Sergeant Bergdahl was believed to have been held by the militant Haqqani network in the tribal area of Pakistan’s northwest frontier, on the Afghan border. He was captured in Paktika Province in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.
The circumstances of how he was separated from his unit and captured have remained a mystery.The circumstances of how he was separated from his unit and captured have remained a mystery.
The latest evidence indicating that Sergeant Bergdahl, who was promoted twice while held prisoner, was still alive came in January, when a video was obtained by the American military showing him alert but also apparently in declining health. Hopes for Sergeant Bergdahl’s release were lifted again last November when the Taliban signaled it was prepared to engage the United States on the limited issue of a prisoner swap, but not on wider issues including reconciliation with the government of Afghanistan, a senior administration official said Saturday.
One Defense Department official said that once Sergeant Bergdahl was safely aboard the American military helicopter flown to the rendezvous, he wrote on a paper plate with a pen — because it was so loud — “S.F.?” seeking to find out if his rescuers were American Special Forces. The discussions resumed with the Qatari government acting as an intermediary for messages between the two sides, the official said.
One soldier yelled back, “Yes, we’ve been looking for you for a long time,” at which point, the Pentagon official said, Sergeant Bergdahl broke down crying. The latest evidence indicating that Sergeant Bergdahl, who was promoted twice while being held as a prisoner, was still alive came in January, when a video was obtained by the American military showing him alert but also apparently in declining health.
The Afghan government offered no immediate comment on Sergeant Bergdahl’s release or the release of the five Taliban leaders from Guantánamo Bay. The Taliban did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment on Saturday. The news broke after dinner in Afghanistan, and the insurgents’ spokesmen usually turn off their phones after dark. In the past week, detailed negotiations culminated in an agreement for a Taliban delegation to bring Sergeant Bergdahl across the border to Afghanistan, where he would be retrieved by American Special Operations troops.
Negotiations and internal deliberations over a potential swap have waxed and waned for several years, but intensified in the past several weeks, according to an official familiar with the matter Mr. Obama called the emir of Qatar on Tuesday, and they gave each other assurances about the proposed transfers, an administration official said Saturday.
Among other complications was a potential legal obstacle: As part of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress imposed statutory restrictions on the transfer of detainees from the prison at Guantánamo Bay. Those restrictions requite a determination by the defense secretary that a transfer is in the interest of national security, that steps have been taken to substantially mitigate a future threat by a released detainee, and that the defense secretary must notify Congress 30 days before any transfer that he has authorized. Sergeant Bergdahl was handed over about 7 p.m. local time without incident with the Special Operations troops spending only a few minutes on the ground, said American officials, who did not disclose the swap’s location inside Afghanistan.
In this case, the administration did not notify Congress ahead of time, officials said. They noted that President Obama has claimed the transfer restrictions are a potentially unconstitutional intrusion on his powers as the commander-in-chief. Last December, when he signed the most recent version into law, he issued a signing statement claiming that he could lawfully override them. The details of what the government believes it knows about the five former Taliban leaders were made public in classified military files given to WikiLeaks by Pfc. Bradley Manning, now Chelsea Manning.
“In the event that the restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees” in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, “operate in a manner that violates constitutional separation of powers principles, my administration will implement them in a manner that avoids the constitutional conflict,” he wrote. Mohammad Nabi Omari is described in the files as “one of the most significant former Taliban leaders detained” at Guantánamo. He is said to have strong operational ties to anti-coalition militia groups, including Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Haqqani network.
An administration official said that given the circumstances of a fast-moving prisoner exchange deal, it was appropriate for the president to act outside the statutory framework for transfers. A former Taliban provincial governor, Mullah Norullah Noori, is also “considered one of the most significant former Taliban officials” at the prison, according to the documents.
“Due to a near-term opportunity to save Sergeant Bergdahl’s life, we moved as quickly as possible,” the official said. “The administration determined that given these unique and exigent circumstances, such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding the notice requirement of the NDAA.” Both Mr. Noori and a third detainee being exchanged, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, a former Taliban deputy defense minister, are accused of having commanded forces that killed thousands of Shiite Muslims, a minority in Afghanistan, before the Taliban were toppled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The transfer reduces the detainee population at Guantánamo to 149. They include 12 Afghan nationals – each of whom were deemed far less important and dangerous than the five who were transferred in exchange for Sergeant Bergdahl. Of those, four are low-level detainees who been recommended for transfer if security conditions could be met, but military officials are said to have been reluctant to approve their repatriation while American combat troops are still in Afghanistan. The fourth detainee is Abdul Haq Wasiq, a former top Taliban intelligence official. The fifth prisoner, Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, is a former minister of the interior and provincial governor.
A Western official in Kabul said that the Afghan government was not told ahead of time that the Taliban were going to hand over Sergeant Bergdahl or that the release of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay was proceeding. The official said there had been several false starts since negotiations over the prisoner swap had accelerated in the past few weeks, and that American commanders wanted to ensure there would be no hiccups on Saturday. The Western official in Kabul said the Afghan government was not told about the deal beforehand because there had been a number of false starts since the negotiations over the prisoner swap had picked up in the past few weeks.
A major concern of the Americans was that word of the plan would leak, and that the Taliban would get cold feet or face pressure from harder-line elements in the insurgency not to release Sergeant Bergdahl. One of the Americans’ chief concerns was that word of the plan would leak, and the Taliban would get cold feet or face pressure from harder line elements in the insurgency not to release Sergeant Bergdahl.
The Americans also feared the possibility of that the exchange could be upended by an outburst from President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, who might see the prisoner swap as an attempt to open peace talks with the Taliban behind his back. He has previously claimed that the United States aimed to weaken the Afghan government by cutting a separate peace with the Taliban and its backers in Pakistan, and “no one wanted to deal with that kind of stuff right now,” the Western official said. The Americans also feared the possibility of the exchange being upended by an outburst from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who might see the prisoner swap as an attempt to open peace talks with the Taliban behind his back.
The Western official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the prisoner swap, said the trade for Sgt. Bergdahl was done “on it own merits,” not as part of a larger push to jump-start talks. He has previously claimed that the United States aimed to weaken the Afghan government by cutting a separate peace with the Taliban and its backers in Pakistan, and “no one wanted to deal with that kind of stuff right now,” the Western official said.
Still, the swap that went ahead on Saturday was originally proposed in 2011 as a confidence building measure by American and Taliban negotiators who were trying to open peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan.
But the talks fell apart in March 2012 with the Taliban saying that American officials had not made good on their promise to release the five imprisoned insurgent leaders for Sergeant Bergdahl.
More than a year later, in June 2013, it appeared American officials had made a breakthrough in their stalled bid to put the preliminary talks back on track when the Taliban announced they would open a negotiating office in Qatar, in the Persian Gulf.
But Mr. Karzai promptly repudiated the talks after the Taliban opened what in his view was an embassy of a government-in-exile, complete with a Taliban flag and a name plate bearing the movement’s official name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
A furious Mr. Karzai portrayed the office in Qatar, whose government has served as an intermediary with the Taliban, and the talks as part of a plot by the United States to undermine Afghanistan and leave it exposed to its enemies in the Taliban and in Pakistan. American officials insisted their sole aim was to get the talks started and then hand them over to the Afghan government.
There has been little progress on restarting talks since then. The Afghan government has repeatedly tried to find its own Taliban interlocutors, but has instead found itself talking with former Taliban officials who appear to have little or no active connection to Mullah Muhammad Omar or the rest of the Taliban’s leadership. Earlier this year, for instance, Mr. Karzai’s office insisted it was nearing a breakthrough in talks, but it quickly became apparent that the reported progress was based on meetings with former insurgents who are believed to have no sway within the Taliban movement.
The Afghan government offered no immediate comment on Sergeant Bergdahl’s release or the release of the five Taliban leaders from Guantánamo Bay. The Taliban did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment on Saturday. The news broke after dinner in Afghanistan, and the insurgents’ spokesmen usually turn off their phones after dark.