WASHINGTON — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl spent his first three months in Taliban captivity blindfolded and “chained to a bed spread-eagle,” the accused deserter claims in a new account.
His captors rarely took off his blindfold, Bergdahl claims, so his eyes became “raw” from the continuous pressure and were “always burning” from the sweat he couldn’t wipe away.
He also recalls his shackles digging into “open wounds” around his ankles. He said they developed into an infection, yet the Taliban captors beat his body and the bottoms of his feet with a copper cable.
“My body started a steady decline in constant internal sickness that would last through the final year,” Bergdahl wrote.
The account, released Wednesday by Bergdahl’s attorney, is the first time the disgraced sergeant has described his tale of hardship and abuse at the hands of his Taliban captors while he was held for five years in Afghanistan.
The story of suffering, malnutrition and isolation comes as US officials brought formal charges against him for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy — which could lead to life in prison.
Bergdahl claims he attempted to escape “approximately 12 times” and managed freedom for nine days during one breakout.
But “without food and only putrid water to drink, my body failed on top of a short mountain” where he was found by a Taliban search group, he wrote.
Bergdahl is accused of abandoning his unit in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, before being kidnapped by the Taliban. He remained captive until President Obama approved a controversial prisoner swap for five Taliban leaders, and he was freed on May 31, 2014.
Bergdahl has been assigned to desk duty at Fort Sam Houston in Texas while awaiting the outcome of an Army investigation into desertion. He hadn’t released details of his captivity until now.
He said he was kept in a cage with little food, water or clothing. During the first year, he could bathe only every three to four months.
His muscles atrophied, and his open wounds from the shackles wouldn’t heal.
“I was kept in constant isolation during the entire five years, with little to no understanding of time, through periods of constant darkness, periods of constant light and periods of completely random flickering of light, and absolutely no understanding of anything that was happening beyond the door I was held behind,” Bergdahl wrote.
“I was continuously shown Taliban videos. Told I was going to [be] executed. Told I was never going back. Told I would leave the next day, and the next day told I would be there for 30 years. Told I was going to die there. Told to kill myself.”
Bergdahl, 28, intends to fight the charges against him.