5 Freed From Gitmo In Exchange For Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Now Lead Negotiations in Qatar For The Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan — Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday.

They will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace in Afghanistan, a sign some negotiators in Kabul say indicates the Taliban’s desire for a peace pact.

Others fear the five, all of whom were close to the insurgent group’s founder and hard-line leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bring with them the same ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that characterized the group’s five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.

Man, what a kick in the fucking gut. Freeing Bergdhal was probably the most heated argument I’ve seen from the veteran community. We use “both sides” a lot on different issues but there was certainly a “both sides” here.

On one hand, fuck Bergdahl forever. He walked off his post with these delusions of grandeur about fixing the problems within his unit. It cost people, whether directly or indirectly, their lives. At one point, we had one of Bowe’s platoon mates on Zero Blog Thirty. If you haven’t heard that one, it’s something. Cody’s passion about the subject is still, and I imagine will always be, strong. It’s episode number 58.

On the other hand, the argument could be made that we never leave people behind even if the risk of them being left was a result of their own actions. Bowe willing left the base but was ultimately tortured for years and remained a prisoner of war for over 5 years. Im sure what he went through was unimaginable but at the same time… dude. You walked off your base in the middle of a fucking war.

Me? I hated the fact that we gave up these dudes for Bowe. These are bad people with bad intentions and now they are leading negotiations for the fucking Taliban in Qatar.

Now, I also think that we have to be careful in believing this report because the report comes from the Taliban. I don’t think they are the most trustworthy organization in the world so I’ll eat the trash if it isn’t true. I think it is true but there’s a grain of salt there too.

Obama made a mistake with this decision. No doubt about that one for me. Every time a story connected to Bowe comes up, it feels fresh all over again and I didn’t even have a dog in that fight. I feel terribly for people like Cody who have to read and see all this shit again.