Freed US soldier Bergdahl back in US
In this image taken from video obtained from Voice Of Jihad Website, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, sits in a vehicle guarded by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. APUS soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed after nearly five years as a Taliban captive, has arrived in Texas from Germany.
Bergdahl arrived in San Antonio on Friday and has made his way to the Brooke Army Medical Centre after spending two weeks recovering in Langstuhl, Germany.
Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday that the US army would ensure that Bergdahl\’s needs would be attended to.
"Our first priority is making sure that Sergeant Bergdahl continues to get the care and support he needs," Kirby said in a statement announcing Bergdahl\’s departure from Germany.
As a captive of the Taliban, Bowe Bergdahl wrote his parents to offer justification for leaving his Army post in Afghanistan and to implore them to withhold judgment until they had a complete picture of the circumstances.
“If this letter makes it to the U.S.A., tell those involved in the investigation that there are more sides to the cittuwation (sic). Please tell D.C. to wait for all evadince (sic) to come in,” the soldier wrote in one of two letters obtained by The Daily Beast and excerpted in a story today.
The letters, provided to The Daily Beast “by sources in contact with the Taliban,” were authenticated by U.S. and western officials as copies of those delivered by the International Red Cross to Bergdahl’s family in Idaho after his June 2009 disappearance.
Bergdahl was held captive by the Taiban-linked Haqqani Network for five years until May 31, when the Obama administration obtained his release in a controversial exchange that freed five Taliban-affiliated prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bergdahl was transferred Friday morning to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he is expected to be reunited with his parents at some point. During his initial treatment at a U.S. military hospital in Germany, he spoke of being tortured repeatedly and of being confined in a cage for extended periods, according to news reports.
Some of his fellow soldiers had characterized him as a deserter for walking away from his outpost in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, blaming him for the deaths of several soldiers sent to search for him. The Army had been investigating his disappearance.
In one of the letters obtained by The Daily Beast, Bergdahl complained of poor leadership in his unit.
“Leadership was lacking, if not non-existent,” he wrote in a letter dated March 23, 2013. “The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men that where actuly (sic) the ones risking thier (sic) lives from attack.”
The Pentagon, in a statement Friday, said Bergdahl would continue to receive medical treatment and debriefings at the medical facility.
Source – Agencies
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