Amid the still raging controversy over the Obama administration’s five-for-one swap of Taliban detainees for his release, freed US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who has been dubbed a deserter by some fellow soldiers, has reportedly told US military doctors that he was tortured by his Taliban captors after he tried to escape from their custody.
US media reports, citing unnamed American officials, said Bergdahl was “tortured, beaten and held in a cage” by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape. An account in The New York Times said he was “locked in a metal cage in total darkness for weeks at a time as punishment for trying to escape”, while another in CNN said he was “physically abused during his five years in captivity and is suffering from psychological trauma”.
Bergdahl’s reported comments on the conditions of his captivity come at a time when the Obama administration faces unremitting attacks from Republican lawmakers and some of his former colleagues who believe he should be punished for desertion instead of being welcomed home as a hero.
“It’s safe to assume” that Sergeant Bergdahl was “held in harsh conditions,” The Times quoted a senior US Defense Department official as saying, remarking: “These are Taliban, not wet nurses.” Details of other mistreatment, however, were not released.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, is probing “death threats” reportedly received by the soldier’s Idaho-based parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, by email. “We are working jointly with our State and local partners and taking each threat seriously,” FBI spokesman William Facer said in a statement, without going into details of the nature of the threats.
American public opinion is divided on the tradeoff with the Taliban, notably the release of five high-profile detainees to secure the freedom of one soldier who is dogged by accusations of having walked away from his unit. A Reuters/Ipsos survey found 44 per cent of respondents rejected the contention that the tradeoff was “the right thing to do”, with just 29 per cent approving of the swap and the remaining 27 per cent unsure of what was right.