Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will be dishonorably discharged from the U.S. military without serving any jail time after five years in Taliban captivity prompted by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.
The shock decision flies in the face of the 14-year sentence recommended by military prosecutors and was met with intense derision from President Donald Trump. Bergdahl’s defenders say he suffered intense torture at the hands of the Taliban and has suffered enough to pay for his crimes.
Bergdahl was originally freed in 2014 after former President Barack Obama transferred five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo bay to Qatar in exchange for his release by the militant group. All five Taliban militants were senior figures in the insurgent force and assessed as major threats to U.S. interests during their detention at the military prison.
The terrorists include Mohammad Fazl, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Mullah Norullah Nori, Khairullah Khairkhwa, and Mohammed Nabi Omari. Sen. John McCain of Arizona described the men as the “hardest of the hard core” at the time, criticizing Obama’s decision to release them without consulting Congress.
Fazl is thought by the U.N. to be responsible for war crimes against religious minorities in Afghanistan during his time in the Taliban government in Afghanistan and was assessed likely in 2008 to “establish ties with … elements participating in hostilities against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”
1/5 Mohammed Fazl, Taliban Deputy Minister of Defense & an admitted senior commander who served as Chief of Staff of the Taliban Army. pic.twitter.com/wTUuAQWhZ0
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 6, 2017
Wasiq was noted in military records to be “central to the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. and coalition forces after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,” noting his direct role in attacking U.S. troops after the invasion of Afghanistan.
3/5 Abdul Haq Wasiq, served as the Taliban Deputy Minister of Intelligence, used his office to support al-Qaida & assist Taliban personnel pic.twitter.com/rMlhyY9R0y
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 6, 2017
Nori is a relative of another senior Taliban commander and “continues to be a significant figure encouraging acts of aggression” as of a 2008 military assessment.
4/5 Mullah Norullah Nori, senior Taliban military commander in
Mazar-e-Sharif during hostilities against US & Coalition forces in late 2001 pic.twitter.com/FDOAQBCV9w— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 6, 2017
Khairkhwa was directly associated with former al-Qaida leader Osama Bin-laden and likely associated once with future al-Qaida in Iraq emir Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi during his time in Afghanistan. He also served as the Taliban government’s minister of interior.
5/5 Khairullah Khairkhwa, senior Taliban official serving as the Minister of Interior & was also directly associated to Usama Bin Laden pic.twitter.com/Pc8wSIO4iv
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 6, 2017
Omari was directly “involved in attacks against U.S. and coalition forces” and also associated himself with weapons smuggling for the group.
2/5 Mohammad Nabi Omari, senior Taliban official/member of a joint al-Qaida/Taliban ACM cell in Khowst involved in attacks against US forces pic.twitter.com/yUwCJYVkJa
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 6, 2017
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