Afghan anger at US-Taliban prisoner swap deal
- 10 years ago
Afghanistan’s government has criticised a US deal to free five senior Taliban militants in exchange for an US army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
The five prisoners have been moved from Guantanamo Bay prison to Qatar. They had been classed as “high risk” by the Pentagon and held high-ranking positions in the Taliban regime before it was toppled by a US-led coalition in 2001.
Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said that if the US had moved the five men without a previous agreement with Qatar, “this act will be considered to be violating all international norms.”
Afghan government sources say President Hamid Karzai is angry that he was kept in the dark about the deal.
“The president is now even more distrustful of US intentions in the country,” a source at Karzai’s palace, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
Bowe Bergdahl had been in captivity for nearly five years, before his release on Saturday, May 31.
Bergdahl is currently at Landstuhl military hospital in Germany. He is undergoing a “reintegration process,“
according to a hospital spokesman.
The five prisoners have been moved from Guantanamo Bay prison to Qatar. They had been classed as “high risk” by the Pentagon and held high-ranking positions in the Taliban regime before it was toppled by a US-led coalition in 2001.
Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said that if the US had moved the five men without a previous agreement with Qatar, “this act will be considered to be violating all international norms.”
Afghan government sources say President Hamid Karzai is angry that he was kept in the dark about the deal.
“The president is now even more distrustful of US intentions in the country,” a source at Karzai’s palace, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
Bowe Bergdahl had been in captivity for nearly five years, before his release on Saturday, May 31.
Bergdahl is currently at Landstuhl military hospital in Germany. He is undergoing a “reintegration process,“
according to a hospital spokesman.