The five Taliban terrorists President Obama released from Guantanamo Bay prison are back on the battlefield. The high profile fighters were exchanged in 2014 for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who deserted his fellow U.S. troops in Afghanistan. From the Military Times (bolding is mine):
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.
As a reminder:
"The truth has been out there the entire time. We've been telling everybody that wants to listen what the truth is from shortly after Bergdahl disappeared to the initial Army investigation to when he was traded back last year. Everybody that was around him, knew what the truth was and it's just a relief that the United States Army did the right thing in charging Bergdahl with desertion and misconduct," former Army medic Josh Cornelison, who served in Bergdahl's platoon, said.
When the exchange was made, Bergdahl was treated by the Obama administration as a hero who served his country with "honor and distinction." His parents were honored with a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House.
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