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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl
via www.washingtonpost.com
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KABUL — They were among the Taliban’s most influential commanders — five men whom the United States succeeded in removing from the battlefield.
But on Saturday, they were released from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — a deeply controversial decision that raised concerns in Kabul and Washington even as Bergdahl’s homecoming was celebrated.
One of the freed men was the head of the Taliban’s army. Another arranged for al-Qaeda trainers to visit Afghanistan. Another has been implicated by the United Nations for killing thousands of Shiite Muslims.
Although the five men have each been in prison for at least a decade, many believe they still have significant influence within the Taliban because of their contributions during the group’s formative years. The last time a high-level Taliban official was released from Guantanamo, in 2007, the detainee, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, returned to Afghanistan and took the reins as the organization’s director of military operations.
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| Freed Guantanamo prisoners |
Like Zakir, the five detainees released Saturday and handed to the Qatari government had formal government jobs when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. They will remain in Qatar for a year. Beyond that, it remains unclear whether they will be able to move to Pakistan or Afghanistan.
A Taliban statement on Saturday announced the release “with great happiness” and said the men would live with their families in Qatar.
The releases come at a pivotal moment in the Afghan war. The United States is concluding its combat mission, and the Afghan army is preparing to take on a powerful insurgency with far less assistance from the American military. The Taliban vowed as recently as last week that “jihad is incumbent and our nation will continue its righteous jihad.”
Read the full story: www.washingtonpost.com
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