Bergdahl Report

Spc. Bowe Bergdahl and captor
(Kabul, Afghanistan) A headline story in the Stars and Stripes:

While many in the United States are celebrating the release of the only American prisoner of war in Afghanistan, the Afghan government is fuming over the detainee swap that paved the way for the deal.

“Recently, five Afghan nationals were released in an exchange for Mr. Bowe Bergdahl, and have been transferred to Qatar, which was against a prior understanding with the Afghan government,” said a statement released by the office of President Hamid Karzai.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shakaib Mustaghni, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had assured Karzai in a recent phone conversation that the Taliban detainees exchanged for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl would be released to Afghan custody. Instead, they were sent to the Gulf nation of Qatar where they will be interned for a year under an agreement between Washington and the Taliban. This restriction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement says, “is completely against all accepted international laws on human rights.”

A Karzai spokesman backed up the foreign ministries claims.

There was no immediate response from the State Department to the Afghan claim.

Interesting, eh?