Mullah Omar calls it a “big victory.” And why not? The Taliban’s top man has swapped one American GI for five of his top commanders.
Even Afghan officials denounced the trade, recognizing, no doubt, it deprives them of leverage in their own dealings with the Taliban.
We’re reluctant to accuse any GI of desertion, or make too much of e-mails saying he disagreed with the war. Throughout the ages, soldiers have written home to complain about the wars they are fighting.
But those who served with Bowe Bergdahl have directly challenged the line put out by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that Bergdahl was “an American prisoner of war, captured on the battlefield,” who served with “honor and distinction.”
In a scathing article in The Daily Beast, an officer who served in the same battalion in Afghanistan puts it bluntly: “Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down.”
Inherent in any trade with terrorists for captured Americans is that it creates an incentive for terrorists to go kidnap others to get other things they want. In this case, there’s a more fundamental problem: We have no way of guaranteeing the five freed Gitmo detainees will not return to battle.
Yes, others have made their own smelly deals. Israel’s done it. Ronald Reagan did it with Iran. But Reagan would later admit arms-for-hostages was a mistake, and in neither case did these leaders cheer.
In sharp contrast, President Obama celebrated with a Rose Garden ceremony.
We’re glad Sgt. Bergdahl is free. But we owe it to all our troops to get to the truth of his case.
And not to shy away from asking the question the president has not answered: Did his trade of terrorists for one soldier make every other American in uniform more vulnerable?