WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly five years after his capture by
insurgents, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s "safety and health were both in
jeopardy" and officials had to act quickly to obtain his release,
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.
The only American
prisoner of the Afghan war was freed Saturday after President Barack
Obama agreed to release five high-level Afghan detainees from the U.S.
prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"While Bowe was gone, he was never
forgotten," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden, where he was
joined by Bergdahl’s parents. "The United States of America does not
ever leave our men and women in uniform behind."
Two Republican
lawmakers, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California and Sen. James Inhofe
of Oklahoma, said Obama violated U.S. law when he approved an exchange
involving prisoners at Guantanamo without notifying Congress 30 days in
advance.
In response, the White House said that officials
considered what they called "unique and exigent circumstances" and
decided to go ahead with the transfer in spite of the legal requirement.
On
Sunday, Susan Rice, the national security adviser said on ABC’s "This
Week" there had been extensive consultations with Congress in the past
about getting Bergdahl back and that lawmakers knew the idea of trading
detainees was on the table.
Hagel, who was traveling to
Afghanistan to meet with U.S. troops, said notice of Saturday’s action
was not relayed to Congress because of its urgency. He said intelligence
indicated that Bergdahl’s "health was deteriorating."
At Bagram
Air Field, Hagel thanked the special operations forces that participated
in the rescue. Gen. Joseph Dunford said there was a sense of excitement
in the headquarters as the news spread.
"You almost got choked up," he said. "It was pretty extraordinary. It has been almost five
years and he is home."
Bergdahl’s
parents, Bob and Jani, led a tireless campaign to keep their son’s
story in the public eye. They were expected to hold a news conference
Sunday in their hometown of Hailey, Idaho, where residents were planning
a homecoming celebration for the soldier.
Bergdahl, in good
condition and able to walk, was handed over to U.S. special operations
forces by the Taliban in an area of eastern Afghanistan, near the
Pakistani border, U.S. officials said. In a statement on its website,
the Taliban put the location on the outskirts of Khost province.
The
government of Qatar served as the go-between in the negotiations. Qatar
is taking custody of the five Afghan detainees who were held at
Guantanamo.
In weighing the swap, U.S. officials decided that it
could help further the effort to reach reconciliation with the Taliban,
something the U.S. sees as key to reaching a level of security in
Afghanistan. But they acknowledged that there was a risk of emboldening
other insurgent groups who might grab U.S. troops or citizens in an
effort the secure the release of others prisoners.
Several dozen
U.S. special operations forces, backed by multiple helicopters and
surveillance aircraft, were involved in securing Bergdahl’s transfer
from about 18 Taliban members.
Bergdahl is believed to have been
held by the Haqqani network since June 30, 2009. Haqqani operates in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and claims allegiance to the Afghan
Taliban but operates with some degree of autonomy.
The U.S.
believes Bergdahl was held for the bulk of his captivity in Pakistan,
but officials said it was not clear when he was transported to eastern
Afghanistan.
Officials said Bergdahl was taken to Bagram Air Field
for medical evaluations, then transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center, a military facility in Germany, before he’s returned to the
U.S. An official said Bergdhal was tentatively scheduled to go to the
San Antonio Military Medical Center where he would be reunited with his
family.
Bergdahl’s parents had been in Washington on a previously
planned visit when Obama called Saturday with news of their son’s
release.
As they stood with Obama in the Rose Garden, Bob Bergdahl
said his son was having trouble speaking English after his rescue. The
elder Bergdahl, who grew a long, thick beard to honor his son, had
worked to learn Pashto, the language spoken by his son’s captors, and
delivered a message to him and the people of Afghanistan in that
language.
Switching back to English, he said "the complicated nature of this recovery will never really be
comprehended."
The
circumstances surrounding Bergdahl’s capture remain murky. There has
been some speculation that he willingly walked away from his unit,
raising the question of whether he could be charged with being absent
without leave or desertion.
In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine quoted
emails Bergdahl is said to have sent to his parents that suggest he was
disillusioned with America’s mission in Afghanistan, had lost faith in
the U.S. Army and was considering desertion. Bergdahl told his parents
he was "ashamed to even be American." The Associated Press could not
independently authenticate the emails.
Hagel declined to say
whether he believes Bergdahl was attempting to desert the Army or go
AWOL when he walked away from his unit and disappeared.
"Our first
priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him
reunited with his family," Hagel said. "Other circumstances that may
develop and questions — those will be dealt with later."
A senior
U.S. official told The Associated Press that the Army would make the
decision on any charges but that the feeling at the moment was that
Bergdahl had suffered enough in his ordeal. All the officials who
discussed details of Bergdahl’s transfer insisted on anonymity because
they were not authorized to be identified.
The U.S. has long
sought Bergdahl’s release, but there was renewed interest in his case as
Obama finalized plans to pull nearly all American forces out of
Afghanistan by the end of 2016.
Officials said the Taliban
signaled to the U.S. in November that they were ready to start fresh
talks on the issue of detainees. After the U.S. received proof that
Bergdahl was still alive, indirect talks began, with Qatar sending
messages back and forth between the two parties.
The five
Guantanamo detainees departed the base on a U.S. military aircraft
Saturday afternoon. Under the conditions of their release, they will be
banned from traveling outside of Qatar for at least one year.
Obama
and the emir of Qatar spoke last week about the conditions of the
release, which have been codified in a memorandum of understanding
between the two countries, officials said.
The detainees were among the most senior Afghans still held at the prison:
—Abdul Haq Wasiq, who served as the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence,
—Mullah
Norullah Nori, a senior Taliban commander in the northern city of
Mazar-e-Sharif when the Taliban fought U.S. forces in late 2001
—Khairullah
Khairkhwa, who served in various Taliban positions including interior
minister and had direct ties to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden
—Mohammed
Nabi, who served as chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat,
Afghanistan, and later worked as a radio operator for the Taliban’s
communications office in Kabul
—Mohammad Fazl, whom Human Rights
Watch says could be prosecuted for war crimes for presiding over the
mass killing of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001 as the
Taliban sought to consolidate their control over the country.
In a
statement on the Taliban website that was translated by the
Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, the Taliban said it "was and
has been for a long time attempting to free all the imprisoned Afghan
prisoners inside and outside the country, and restoring the right of
freedom to them quickly."
The Taliban said it was seeking the release of additional prisoners but offered no specifics.
In
Pakistan, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said her government
was "not aware of" Bergdahl’s release or the negotiations leading up to
it. She declined to comment further.
___
Baldor reported
from Singapore. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann and Darlene
Superville in Washington, Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Zarar
Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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