[The released inmates include Mullah Mohammad Fazl, a former
Taliban deputy defense minister. U.S. officials said that under a memorandum of
understanding signed by Washington and Doha, the men will be subject to a
year-long travel ban in Qatar. They declined to offer more details about any
restrictions the men would face but expressed confidence that their release
would not put Americans in harm’s way.]
By Ernesto Londoño
Taliban fighters released the sole remaining American military
hostage Saturday morning to a team of U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, who
quickly hustled him onto a helicopter. Once airborne, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl
scribbled the letters “SF?” on a paper plate, seeking confirmation that he was
with Special Operations forces.
“Yes!” one of the troops hollered back above the din of the
aircraft’s blades, according to a defense official who described Bergdahl’s
first moments of freedom. “We’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
Bergdahl, 28, who had been held captive nearly five years, broke
down in tears.
His release was secured after the Obama administration, working
through Qatari government intermediaries, agreed to free five high-profile
Afghan inmates held by the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The
influential commanders, including the former head of the Taliban’s army, were
loaded onto a U.S. military aircraft bound for Qatar after U.S. officials got
confirmation that Bergdahl had been freed.
President Obama hailed Bergdahl’s recovery as a triumph of years
of high-wire diplomatic efforts that reached a breakthrough in the waning
months of the U.S. combat mission there.
“He wasn’t forgotten by his country,” Obama said Saturday evening
in the Rose Garden, standing alongside Bergdahl’s parents, Robert and Jani.
“The United States of America does not ever leave our men and women in uniform
behind.”
His father, who grew a long beard in a gesture of solidarity for
his son, said a few words to his son in Pashto, the language spoken in southern
Afghanistan, saying that he understood his son is having trouble speaking
English.
“I am your father, Bowe,” Robert Bergdahl said. “I look forward to
continuing the recovery of our son which will be a considerable task for our
family.”
While leaders across the political spectrum expressed relief at
the news, prominent Republican lawmakers chided the White House for skirting a
legal requirement to notify them about the planned release of Guantanamo
inmates. Some criticized the president for breaking with longtime U.S. policy
against negotiating with militant groups.
“This fundamental shift in U.S. policy signals to terrorists
around the world a greater incentive to take US hostages,” Rep. Mike Rogers
(R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a
statement.
Peaceful exchange
Bergdahl’s release at 10:30 a.m. in Khost province, which borders
Pakistan, capped a week of intense, secret negotiations conducted through the
Qataris. A team of dozens of Special Operations forces took custody of Bergdahl
from a group of 18 Taliban fighters. The rare encounter on the battlefield
between warriors who have spent years killing one another lasted just a few
minutes and was peaceful, U.S. officials said.
Bergdahl walked onto the aircraft, U.S. officials said, suggesting
he is in relatively stable health. Officials said it was too early to know
anything definitive about the mental state of a soldier who bewildered his
comrades after he walked off base in volatile Paktika province on June 30,
2009.
Officials at the Pentagon, who had grown concerned that the end of
the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of the year would dim the
prospect of getting Bergdahl back alive, rejoiced.
“It is our ethos that we never leave a fallen comrade,” Gen.
Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a
statement. “Today we have back in our ranks the only remaining captured soldier
from our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Welcome home Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.”
There was no indication that the soldier would face any reprimand
for the circumstances under which he was taken, which led some of his comrades
to call him a deserter. While it is unclear whether he will remain on active
duty, a senior U.S. military official said the Army plans to promote Bergdahl
to staff sergeant next month.
“I can’t imagine there would be repercussions,” said the official,
who was among several who would speak about the case only on the condition of
anonymity.
Defense officials said they were working to get Bergdahl to the
United States as soon as possible. After passing through Bagram air base in
Afghanistan, Bergdahl was en route to the U.S military hospital in Landstuhl,
Germany, according to Pentagon officials traveling with Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel.
They said his first U.S. stop would likely be the Brooke Army
Medical Center in San Antonio, where after a thorough medical screening he will
likely be debriefed by intelligence officials.
Year-long stay in Qatar
The released inmates include Mullah Mohammad Fazl, a former
Taliban deputy defense minister. U.S. officials said that under a memorandum of
understanding signed by Washington and Doha, the men will be subject to a
year-long travel ban in Qatar. They declined to offer more details about any
restrictions the men would face but expressed confidence that their release
would not put Americans in harm’s way.
“The United States has coordinated closely with Qatar to ensure
that security measures are in place and the national security of the United
States will not be compromised,” Hagel said in a statement from Singapore,
where he was attending a security conference. “Sgt. Bergdahl’s return is a
powerful reminder of the enduring, sacred commitment our nation makes to all
those who serve in uniform.”
Hagel informed members of Congress on Saturday about the prisoner
swap deal. The administration is required by law to notify Congress about its
intention to release Guantanamo detainees 30 days in advance.
“Due to a near-term opportunity to save Sergeant Bergdahl’s life,
we moved as quickly as possible,” a senior administration official said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity to explain the timing of the
congressional notification. “The administration determined that given these unique
and exigent circumstances, such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding
the notice requirement” in the law.
Talks falter, then revive
The Obama administration began seriously exploring the possibility
of negotiating Bergdahl’s release in late 2011, when secret talks between U.S.
diplomats and members of the Taliban appeared to be gaining traction. The
talks, part of a broader effort to explore a negotiated end of a conflict that
had only become deadlier as the White House approved a surge of 30,000 troops
in 2009, collapsed in March 2012 when the Taliban suspended them, arguing that
the United States was not acting in good faith.
Last summer, when the Taliban was allowed to open a political
office in the Qatari capital, American officials grew hopeful that prisoner
swap negotiations could resume. The effort foundered just hours after the
office formally opened after the Afghan government protested that the Taliban
had been given de-facto diplomatic status.
Unexpectedly, representatives of the Taliban conveyed to U.S.
officials last fall that they were once again amenable to discussing the
release of Bergdahl, but set as a condition that they would only deal with
Washington through intermediaries, American officials said.
U.S. officials received a video of Bergdahl last fall after they
had demanded proof that he remained alive. Unlike past videos of the captive,
the one released last year was delivered privately, rather than through the
Taliban’s media operatives. It showed the soldier looking “very gaunt,
haggard,” a U.S. military official who has seen clips said.
In a departure of its former negotiating stance, the
administration sought to enhance the American offer of a prisoner exchange by
proposing to release the five men simultaneously. Taliban representatives had
objected to the previous proposed plan, under which the inmates would be turned
over in stages in an effort to test whether the Taliban and the Qatari
intermediaries could guarantee that the men would not return to militancy.
A statement issued Saturday by the Taliban said the men would be
residing with their families in Qatar, a tiny, wealthy Gulf emirate.
U.S. officials said they had no indication that the Taliban was
open to more substantive talks but expressed hope that the swap would build
trust.
“We continue to hope there will be a decision by the Taliban to
move forward to initiate a political dialogue with the Afghan government, and
it is our hope that the events leading to Sergeant Bergdahl’s return could
potentially open the door for broader discussions with the Taliban by building
confidence that the two sides can negotiate honestly with each other,” a senior
administration official said.
A celebration in Idaho
The Obama administration has sought to keep Bergdahl’s profile
relatively low over the years, fearing that widespread publicity of his plight
would boost his value in the eyes of the Taliban and strengthen the group’s
negotiating hand. For a period, White House officials asked that several U.S. newspapers
refrain from publishing his name in the context of peace talks.
As his hopes dimmed, Bergdahl’s father sought to personally secure
his son’s release by learning Pashto and attempting to contact the Taliban
online.
Bergdahl’s parents had traveled to Washington for a Memorial Day
event and stayed in town for a few days to attend meetings with senior U.S.
officials. They were in Washington when Obama called them Saturday morning to
deliver the news, U.S. officials said.
“We were so joyful and relieved when President Obama called us
today to give us the news that Bowe is finally coming home!” Bergdahl’s parents
said in a statement. “We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son.
Today, we are ecstatic!”
In Bergdahl’s home town of Hailey, Idaho, there was jubilation
Saturday. Residents had been planning a June 28 concert to call attention to
his plight. They were expecting up to 7,000 people to attend, and singer Carole
King was going to perform for free.
The concert will go on, said organizer Stefanie O’Neill, but it is
now going to be “the biggest welcome-home party the country has ever seen.”
Kim Harrison, who said she was listed as Bergdahl’s godmother in
his military records, said, “I’m excited, I’m kind of numb, and I hope that
they take it easy on him when he gets back.”
She said she knows Bergdahl as the precocious teenager who took
ballet with her daughter and came to spend hours at the Harrison house in
Ketchum, Idaho, reading poetry and studying philosophy. She described Bergdahl
as a sensitive young man who “questioned everything” and who went to
Afghanistan because he wanted to help people.
“Now the only thing I can think of worth talking about is
protecting him from people criticizing him and trying to find a negative source
of why he left in the first place,” she said.
Karen DeYoung, traveling in Asia with Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel, and Anne Gearan, Julie Tate and Stephanie McCrummen in Washington
contributed to this report.
