The attorney of US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has made public a letter written by the latter to the General Commander of the US Army Forces Command Mark Milley, which detailed the five years that the soldier had spent in Taliban captivity while in Afghanistan.
According to the letter, Bergdahl did not misbehave before the enemy or collaborate with them during captivity, while also unsuccessfully attempting multiple escapes from his captors. The Idaho soldier also described the tough life he faced while being a POW, during which he allegedly faced beatings, death threats, abuse and malnutrition.
The US Army Sgt. said that he was kept in total isolation for the entire five year duration of his capture, being confined to a cage, and that he only had contact with his captors. During his captivity, he reported being repeatedly threatened with death or mutilation by the Taliban, and was also beaten up regularly.
Bergdahl claims that he attempted to escape from captivity 12 times, sometimes managing to slip past his inattentive guards; once he even managed to stay nine days away from his captors, only to collapse due to inherent weakness provoked by the lack of food and decent water. He was later found by a Taliban search party and chained to a bed while blindfolded for three months as punishment.
The soldier, now 28, also described in disturbing terms how his overall health had deteriorated during the course of his captivity, after suffering from severe malnutrition and muscle atrophy. He also claims that wounds he suffered as a result of Taliban abuse made him suffer from neuropathy in his feet.
However, Bergdahl’s letter did not offer any details about his mysterious disappearance from the Mest-Lalak Combat Outpost in 2009, for which he is now on trial being accused of either desertion or misbehavior before the enemy, the latter for which he risks life in prison.
Bergdahl disappeared from the base after he sent an e-mail to his parents stating his disappointment with US Army ethics, only to be captured by a Taliban group. After being held as a POW for 5 years, he was finally liberated from captivity in 2014 after a multinational negation saw the United States release five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange – an action contrary to the firm principle of “not negotiating with terrorists” usually held by the US Army.
Image Source: The Eastern Tribune
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