Washington, June 1 – President Barack Obama, flanked by the parents of a U.S. soldier released after being held for nearly five years by the Taliban, said in the White House Rose Garden on Saturday that the United States has an “ironclad commitment” to bring home its prisoners of war.
As the parents of as Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Jani Bergdahl (L) and Bob Bergdahl (R) look on, US President Barack Obama (C) makes a statement regarding the release of their son, US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl by the Taliban, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 31 May 2014. The Taliban has released a US soldier it held for nearly five years in exchange for the transfer to Qatar of five Afghan detainees at Guantanamo, US officials said on 31 May. The recovery of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, 28, has been under discussion with the Taliban for at least a year, and the US government indicated the possibility of an exchange as early as June 2013. US President Barack Obama announced Bergdahl’s release in a statement, saying he had called Bergdahl’s parents in Hailey, Idaho, with the good news.
Obama said that while Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was being held, he was never forgotten. “We’re committed to winding down the war in Afghanistan and we are committed to closing Gitmo (the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba). But we also made an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home,” Obama said.
“That’s who we are as Americans. It’s a profound obligation within our military. And today, at least in this instance, it’s a promise we’ve been able to keep,” Obama added.
The released soldier’s father, Bob Bergdahl, spoke after the president and said that his son was “having trouble speaking English,” adding, “The complicated nature of this recovery … will never really be comprehended.”
Obama told the soldier’s mother and father that “as a parent I can’t imagine the hardship that you guys have gone through.”
In the deal to gain the freedom of the last U.S. soldier who was a prisoner in the Afghan war, the United States agreed to release five Taliban detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison into the custody of the government of Qatar.
“The Qatari government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security,” Obama said.
-India Today
Photo:EPA
