Taliban Charges Bowe Bergdahl With Desertion
QUETTA, PAKISTAN – Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl may be innocent of desertion as far as the U.S. Army is concerned, but in recent days the ex-prisoner of war now faces the same charges from the most unlikely direction: his former captors.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has announced that the insurgent group, following its own internal investigation, would be charging Bergdahl with deserting his post — a crime punishable by death, public flogging, or lengthy imprisonment, although typically not in that order.
"We are investigating the incident where Brother [Bergdahl] may — and I stress this is not definite — may have walked off his post without his AK-47," Zabihullah said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
According to Zabihullah, on May 31, 2014 Bergdahl was pulling security at a high-level meeting in Khowst Province between a Taliban commander and a group of American Special Forces who had arrived by helicopter. Zabihullah said that Bergdahl appears to have boarded the helicopter witho…
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