SECRETARY OF STATE Hagel, Rice praise Bergdahl recovery mission, soldiers parents speak out The parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- the American who was released this weekend after being held for five years by the Taliban -- urged their son Sunday to take his time to recover and thanked everybody, from people in their home state of Idaho to American and Qatari officials, for helping return their son. “Take all of the time you need to recover and decompress,” said his mother, Jani Bergdahl, who has yet to speak directly with her son. “I am so longing to see your face after these five years.” On Saturday, 18 Taliban members turned over Bergdahl, the only American soldier held prisoner in the war in Afghanistan, to a Navy SEAL team near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border at about 10:30 a.m. ET. “Bowe I love you. I am your father,” said his dad, Bob Bergdahl, in the couple’s roughly 20-minute press conference in Boise, Idaho, on Sunday afternoon. “Please recognize we are on a mission... Im so proud about how far you were willing to go to help the Afghan people.” Their comments came hours after top Obama administration officials praised the diplomatic and military efforts to recover Bergdahl, saying it was an “extraordinary” and “life-saving” mission while disagreeing with the arguments that officials negotiated with terrorists and failed to inform Congress. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice made their comments roughly 24 hours after Americans learned that Bergdahl was recovered in exchange for the release of five Taliban detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “It was an extraordinary day for America,” Rice told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Rice and Hagel repeatedly disagreed with the argument that U.S. officials negotiated with terrorists to get back Bergdahl. “He wasn’t simply a hostage,” Rice said. “He was a prisoner of war.” Hagel told NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “We didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Sergeant Bergdahl is a prisoner of war. That’s a natural process.” Michigan GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that administration officials had “other means” to recover Bergdahl. “You send a message to every Al Qaeda group in the world that there is some value in a hostage that it didn’t have before,” he said. On the issue of not informing Congress, Hagel said he informed the leaders of the appropriate congressional intelligence and military committees, but defended the administration’s actions by saying officials had to move swiftly. “This was essential to save the life of Sergeant Bergdahl,” he said. Rice said Congress, which has cited a 30-day notification rule, had been informed in the past and that the Pentagon got Justice Department approval for the swap before executing the plan. “There was reason to be concerned [Bergdahl’s] life could have been at risk,” Rice said. “We didn’t have 30 days.” Hagel and Rice sidestepped questions about whether officials will investigate how and why the 28-year-old Bergdahl apparently wandered off base in Afghanistan before he was captured on June 30, 2009. “He probably went through hell,” Hagel said from Afghanistan. “The first issue is his health.” The Taliban detainees were released Saturday after Bergdahl was in American hands and flown by U.S. military plane to Qatar, whose government helped broker the deal and where the former U.S. prisoners will remain in some form of limited confinement. Bergdahl arrived Sunday morning at Landstuhl Medical Center, in Germany. He has not spoken with his parents yet, the official said. Hagel said earlier Sunday that the swap was backed by the unanimous consensus of the National Security Council and added that the president has the authority to order such a release under Article 2 of the Constitution. He also said he was hopeful the exchange could lead to a breakthrough with the Taliban. The U.S. has long argued that the best way to a successful outcome in Afghanistan included reconciliation with the Taliban insurgents. U.S. officials said Saturday the deal was reached after a week of intense negotiations mediated by the government of Qatar. They said efforts to negotiate Bergdahl’s release began in November 2010, that his return has been a top priority since May 2011 and that the opportunity to resume diplomatic efforts emerged several weeks ago. The names of the detainees are Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Noori, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa, and Abdul Haq Wasiq. They are believed to be the top five Taliban leaders at the prison and were selected in 2012 by Taliban leaders as part of initial negotiations. Bergdahl is thought to have been captured by members of the Haqqani network, which operates in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and has been one of the deadliest threats to U.S. troops in the war. The network, which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012, claims allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, yet operates with some degree of autonomy. Fox News Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report After nearly five years in captivity by the Taliban, U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released May 31. Who is Bergdahl? Bergdahl was the only known American prisoner of war in the Afghanistan war. He is from Hailey, Idaho, and was 23 years old when he disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. The U.S. government said it believes Bergdahl was in Pakistan for most of his time in captivity. Since his capture, Bergdahl has appeared in several videos released by the Taliban. Why was Bergdahl released? President Obama released five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl. U.S. intelligence revealed Bergdahls health was deteriorating and the trade was made essentially to save his life, said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The administrations national security team was unanimous in support of the exchange. MORE: U.S. Sgt. Bergdahl freed in Afghanistan TWEETS ABOUT SGT. BOWE BERGDAHL What happened during the release? The United States and the Taliban had started negotiating indirectly through the government of Qatar in November. Several dozen special operations troops were involved, and there was the potential for violence with the presence of 18 armed Taliban members. No shots were fired and the exchange went as well as could be expected, Hagel said. Bergdahl was flown to an Army hospital in Landstahl, Germany, for evaluation before he returns to the United States. Later in the day, the five Guantanamo detainees were flown to Qatar. The detainees will be closely monitored and banned from traveling outside of Qatar for at least one year. Was Bergdahl a deserter? Its unclear whether Bergdahl had lagged behind when he was captured or if he was trying to desert the Army. Hagel has declined to say what he believes happened. Some fellow soldiers have taken to social media to call Bergdahl a deserter, including on the Facebook page Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a hero. Prior to his capture, Bergdahl had indicated his disillusionment with the Army in e-mails to his parents, according to a 2012 article in Rolling Stone. Bergdahl told his parents he was ashamed to even be American. If its determined Bergdahl deserted, he would face five years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. What does Bergdahls release mean for U.S. relations with the Taliban? Senior U.S. officials involved in the swap said Bergdahls release could further reconciliation with the Taliban and achieve more security in Afghanistan. But Republican congressional leaders said the exchange would embolden terrorists to kidnap Americans. They also expressed concerns that the five detainees would return to the fight against the United States. The Guantanamo detainees are hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans and countless Afghans on their hands, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban proposed a deal in which they would free a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their most senior operatives at Guantanamo Bay, while Afghan President Hamid Karzai eased his opposition Thursday to joining planned peace talks. The idea of releasing these Taliban prisoners has been controversial. U.S. negotiators hope they would join the peace process but fear they might simply return to the battlefield, and Karzai once scuttled a similar deal partly because he felt the Americans were usurping his authority. The proposal to trade U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for the Taliban detainees was made by senior Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail in response to a question during a phone interview with The Associated Press from the militants newly opened political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf nation of Qatar. The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Talibans agenda before even starting peace talks with the U.S., said Suhail, a top Taliban figure who served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad before the Taliban governments ouster in 2001. First has to be the release of detainees, Suhail said Thursday when asked about Bergdahl. Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward. The Obama administration was noncommittal about the proposal, which it said it had expected the Taliban to make. Weve been very clear on our feelings about Sgt. Bergdahl and the need for him to be released, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. We have not made a decision to ... transfer any Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay, but we anticipate, as Ive said, that the Taliban will all raise this issue. Bergdahl, 27, of Hailey, Idaho, is the only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan. Suhail said Bergdahl is, as far as I know, in good condition. Donna Thibedeau-Eddy, who has spent the last few days at the Idaho home of the soldiers parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, said the family was hopeful. I was with his Mom and Dad this morning when they got the news of the exchange offer. They were ecstatic, said Thibedeau-Eddy. They actually saw the news before they got the call from the military. Bob saw it online and said Jani, Donna, look at this. While there have been talks before, Bob Bergdahl is putting more faith and hope into the latest developments because it appears the Taliban are taking the initiative, Thibedeau-Eddy said. Bergdahls parents received a letter this month from their son through the International Committee of the Red Cross. They did not release details of the letter. The soldiers captivity has been marked by only sporadic releases of videos and information about his whereabouts. The reconciliation process with the Taliban — seen by most as the only way to end the nearly 12-year war — has been a long and bumpy one. The U.S. began secret talks with the militants more than two years ago in off-and-on discussions that lasted several months. The two sides discussed prisoner exchanges and for a brief time it appeared that the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners would be released and sent to Qatar to help further the peace process. But Karzai, furious that he had not been told of the talks in advance, demanded that the Taliban operatives be returned to Afghanistan rather than Qatar. Since then, the U.S. has been trying to jumpstart peace talks and the Taliban have made several offers — including sharing power in Kabul. The Taliban have also attended several international conferences and held meetings with representatives of about 30 countries. Afghan and U.S. officials have said the Taliban being considered for any exchange deal are: — Mohammad Fazl, a former Taliban chief of army staff and the deputy minister of defense. — Abdul Haq Wasiq, former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence. He was in direct contact with supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar during the Taliban rule, according to military documents. — Mullah Norullah Nuri , who has been described as one of the most significant former Taliban officials held at Guantanamo. He was a senior Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif and previously was a Taliban governor in two provinces in northern Afghanistan. — Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban minister of the interior and military commander. According to military documents, he had direct ties to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden and was also a friend of Karzai. — Mohammed Nabi, former chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat, the capital of the southern province of Zabul. If the Taliban hold talks with American delegates in the next few days, they will be the first U.S.-Taliban talks in nearly 1½ years. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected in Doha ahead of a conference there scheduled for Saturday on the Syrian civil war. He was not expected to meet with the Taliban although other U.S. officials might in coming days. On Wednesday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. had never confirmed any specific meeting schedule with Taliban representatives in Doha. Prospective peace talks were again thrown into question Wednesday when Karzai became infuriated by the Talibans move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy. The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner that evoked the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: Political office of the Taliban. At the ceremony, the Taliban welcomed dialogue with Washington but said their fighters would not stop fighting. Hours later, the group claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Bagram Air Base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, which killed four American service members. The U.S. expectation had been that U.S.-Taliban talks would be followed several days later with direct talks between the Taliban and a Karzai peace delegation. But on Wednesday, Karzai announced that his government would not participate, apparently also angered by the way Kabul had been sidelined in the U.S.-Taliban bid for rapprochement. The Afghan president also suspended negotiations with the United States on a bilateral security agreement that would cover American troops who will remain behind after the final withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014. That left U.S. officials scrambling to save the talks, and Kerry spoke with Karzai in phone conversations in an effort to bring him back on board. On Thursday, Karzai spokesman Fayeq Wahidi said the Afghan president is willing to join peace talks with the Taliban if the U.S. follows through with promises he said were made by Kerry over the phone. Wahidi said Kerry promised Karzai that the Taliban flag and a nameplate with their former regimes name would be removed and that the U.S. would issue a formal written statement supporting the Afghan government and making clear that the Taliban office would not be seen as an embassy or government-in-exile. If all those assurances and commitments the U.S. had given, if we are assured that they will be fully put in place on the issue of talks in Qatar, Wahidi said, we would see no problem in entering into talks with the Taliban in Qatar. A decision on whether to restart the U.S. security agreement talks would be made after those assurances, he added, referring further questions to the foreign ministry. On Thursday, the Islamic Emirate nameplate had been removed from the Taliban office. The flagpole inside the compound was apparently shortened and the Taliban flag — dark Quranic script on a white background — was still flying but not visible from the street. Journalists gathered at the office shot images of the flag through the gaps in the walls. The Taliban have long refused to talk to Karzais representatives but the opening of the office was seen as a first step toward those meetings. Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they want their first interlocutors to be the United States. First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us (because) for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans, he said. We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan, he added. If there are troops in Afghanistan, then there will be a continuation of the war. Suhail indicated the Taliban could approve of American trainers and advisers for the Afghan troops, saying that of course, there is cooperation between countries in other things. We need that cooperation. He said that once the Taliban concluded talks with the United States, they would participate in all-inclusive Afghan talks. Suhail ruled out exclusive talks with Karzais High Peace Council, which has been a condition of the Afghan president, who previously said he wanted talks in Doha to be restricted to his representatives and the Taliban. Instead, the Taliban would talk with all Afghan groups, Suhail said. After we finish the phase of talking to the Americans, then we would start the internal phase ... that would include all Afghans, he said. Having all groups involved will guarantee peace and stability. ___ Gannon reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Associated Press writers John Miller in Hailey, Idaho, Brian Murphy in Dubai and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Kathy Gannon is AP Special Regional Correspondent for Afghanistan
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 18:33:35 +0000
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