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| Bowe Bergdahl: Video shows US soldier handover | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Taliban have released a video showing the moment Sgt Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to US forces after five years in captivity in Afghanistan. | |
| The footage shows him sitting in a pick-up truck, before being walked to a helicopter in Khost province. | The footage shows him sitting in a pick-up truck, before being walked to a helicopter in Khost province. |
| The US soldier was freed on Saturday in exchange for the release of five Guantanamo Bay detainees. | The US soldier was freed on Saturday in exchange for the release of five Guantanamo Bay detainees. |
| The deal has caused controversy in the US, with Republicans warning it could put American lives at risk. | The deal has caused controversy in the US, with Republicans warning it could put American lives at risk. |
| The army has said it would review the circumstances surrounding Sgt Bergdahl's capture in 2009. | |
| The top-ranking US military officer, Gen Martin Dempsey, also raised the possibility that the soldier could be prosecuted if he had abandoned his post before his seizure. | |
| Sgt Bergdahl is in a stable condition in a military hospital in Germany. | Sgt Bergdahl is in a stable condition in a military hospital in Germany. |
| White flag | |
| The video, released on Wednesday, shows the soldier dressed in traditional Afghan clothing as he sits waiting in the truck. | |
| Several armed men with covered faces are seen standing next to the vehicle and on the hillside. | |
| A Black Hawk helicopter then lands and the Taliban fighters - one of whom carries a stick with a white flag - lead Sgt Bergdahl to a meeting point where he is being taken away by US forces. | |
| The exchange took place in Ali Sher district of Khost province near the Pakistan border. | |
| Since Sgt Bergdahl's release, a growing chorus of opposition Republicans have criticised President Barack Obama's decision to agree to the prisoner swap. | |
| They have described it as a deal with terrorists, and say the transfer of five Taliban senior prisoners from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar, was endangering Americans. | |
| But Mr Obama defended his decision, saying America had a "pretty sacred rule" not to leave soldiers behind. | |
| "We don't leave our men or women in uniform behind and that dates back to the earliest days," he said. |