US soldier freed in Taliban prisoner swap

A US soldier held captive for five years by the Afghan Taliban has been released after the US agreed to hand over five Afghans imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay to the government of Qatar.

Bowe Bergdahl, 28, the only US prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, was handed over to US troops in the south of the country on Saturday, US officials said. His physical condition was described as good.

President Barack Obama said that the US had made "an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home" and that "today, at least in this instance, it's a promise we've been able to keep".

Standing beside Sgt Bergdahl's parents Jani and Bob, he added: "We're committed to winding down the war in Afghanistan and closing Gitmo," as the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is known.

The five Afghan prisoners, some of whom are believed to have been high-ranking Taliban members, were transferred from Cuba to Qatar, where the US said they would be subject to security restrictions.

"The Qatari government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security," Mr Obama said.

The Obama administration referred to the exercise as a "transfer" rather than a "swap" and said that it could help build momentum for the stalled efforts to sponsor talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. "This transfer was a part of a broader reconciliation framework," said a senior administration official.

However, the decision to release the five Afghans was criticised by leading Republicans.

"Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Berghdal's release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans," said Senator James Inhofe and Congressman Buck McKeon in a statement.

They also said that Mr Obama violated laws that require Congress to be notified a month ahead of any prisoner releases from Guantanamo.

"In the days ahead, we must carefully examine the means by which we secured his [Bergdahl's] freedom," they added.

A US official said the five Afghans being released were Mullah Norullah Noori, Mohammed Nabi, Mohammad Fazl, Khairullah Said Khairkhwa and Abdul Haq Wasiq. In previous statements, the US government has described all of them as "high-risk" detainees that could "pose a threat" to the US.

The announcement on Saturday followed a week of Afghanistan-related activity for the president, including a surprise visit to Bagram air base near Kabul last weekend to visit the troops.

On Tuesday, he announced that he wanted about 10,000 troops to stay in the country for another two years, while on Wednesday he outlined his vision for US foreign policy after the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Even Friday's resignation of Eric Shinseki as veterans secretary - due to a scandal over hospital waiting lists - had an Afghanistan echo, given the pressures that the two wars have placed on the veterans' healthcare system.

Sgt Bergdahl was captured by militants connected to the Taliban in the east of the country in June 2009, roughly two months after arriving in Afghanistan.

In an indication of the transition he could now face as he returns home, his father said that he was having problems understanding English and started his own comments at the White House on Saturday in Pashto, a language he had tried to learn in order to communicate with his son's captors.

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