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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Was Exchanged for Detainees at Guantánamo
(35 minutes later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban on Wednesday released a video showing the handover of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, touting the swap of the American soldier for five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo as a significant achievement for the insurgents.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban released a video on Wednesday showing its fighters handing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to American troops, providing a direct look at a moment in the Afghan war that has provoked relief in some quarters and sharp criticism in Afghanistan and Washington.
The 17-minute video, emailed to media, shows the moment of Bergdahl’s handover. He was freed on Saturday after five years in captivity, and exchanged for the five Guantanamo detainees who were flown to Qatar, a tiny Gulf Arab country which has served as a mediator in the negotiations for the swap.
Sergeant Bergdahl is seen in the video clad in traditional Afghan robes, and his face and head appear to have been recently shaven. For much of the video, he is seen waiting in a white pickup truck surrounded by Taliban fighters armed with AK-47 assault rifles and at least one rocket-propelled grenade launcher, standard armaments for the insurgents. Many of the Taliban in the video have their faces covered by scarves.
Since his release, the 28-year-old from Hailey, Idaho, was reported to be in stable condition at a military hospital in Germany.
As the American helicopter approaches, one of the insurgents can be heard telling Sergeant Bergdahl, “Don’t come back to Afghanistan. If you do, you won’t make it out alive next time.” Other insurgents standing nearby laugh at the warning.
The Taliban video shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan clothing, the white salwar kameez, clean-shaven and sitting in a white pickup truck parked on a hillside. More than a dozen Taliban fighters with machineguns, their faces mostly covered by headscarves, stand around the truck and on the hillside.
But much of the audio consists of an interview with one of the Taliban fighters who was purported to have taken part in the handover. He talks about the arrangements that were made with the Americans, and then narrates how the American forces arrived by helicopter, covered by bombers circling in the sky above. At times, the camera shifts from the Taliban fighters and Sergeant Bergdahl to show airplanes flying above them.
Bergdahl is seen blinking frequently as he looks out of the truck and appears to be listening as his captors speak to him. A Black Hawk helicopter then lands and two Taliban fighters, one carrying a white piece of cloth tied to a stick of wood, lead Bergdahl half the way toward the helicopter, a few hundred meters (yards) away.
Providing the Taliban fighter’s account is accurate, the video adds new details to what is known about the transfer, which took place on Saturday in the eastern province of Khost shortly before five Taliban prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were handed over to officials from Qatar, which mediated the prisoner swap. The five Taliban have since been taken to Qatar, where the insurgents have a political office and the former prisoners are to remain for one year under the terms of the deal with the United States.
Bergdahl is then greeted and taken by three Western-looking men in civilian clothes to the helicopter, where soldiers in Army uniforms are waiting and help him board the Black Hawk.
American officials said they were aware of the video and were reviewing it. “We have no reason to doubt the video’s authenticity,” said Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. “Regardless, we know the transfer was peaceful and successful, and our focus remains on getting Sgt. Bergdahl the care he needs.”
According to a voiceover in the video, the handover took place around 4 p.m. Saturday in the area of Bati in Ali Sher district of eastern Khost province. As the helicopter approaches, one of the Taliban men gets closer to Bergdahl and is heard speaking in Pashto, one of two main Afghan languages.
“Don’t come back to Afghanistan,” the man tells Bergdahl. “You won’t make it out alive next time,” he adds as some of the others are heard laughing. The same words appear over the video in English, with misspellings.
Just before the helicopter lands, a group of Taliban near the pickup shout: “Long life to Mujahedeen,” or holy warriors as the Taliban call themselves.
A Taliban statement, also distributed to media, quoted their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar describing the release of the five Taliban officials from Guantanamo as a significant achievement for the movement.
U.S. Defense Department press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said the Pentagon was reviewing the video even though it had no reason to doubt its authenticity.
“Regardless, we know the transfer was peaceful and successful, and our focus remains on getting Sgt. Bergdahl the care he needs,” Kirby said Wednesday.
The five Taliban officials’ release was conditioned on assurances from officials in Qatar, where they will have to stay for one year, that they will track them and allow the U.S. to monitor them.
But even as Bergdahl’s hometown celebrates his release, the Army is contemplating pursuing an investigation that could lead to desertion or other charges against him.
The Pentagon concluded in 2010 that Bergdahl had walked away from his unit before he was captured by the Taliban. Members of Bergdahl’s unit and military officials have complained that his decision to leave his base unarmed put his fellow soldiers in danger and that some were killed in missions that included looking for him.
