Praise the Lord for a possible breakthrough in this situation, but please keep our only known American prisoner of war in prayer.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been held in captivity of the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network since June of 2009 and it is believed he is presently being held somewhere inside Pakistan but his whereabouts are actually unknown. While there were hopes back in December of 2013 that there may have been a break through in negotiations concerning the release of Sgt Bowe, our hopes were somewhat crushed for reasons the writer won’t go into in this post. Such issues can be discussed after we get young Bowe home.
I suspect that due to the major attention paid to this situation by the media in addition to the administrations desire to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the Obama administration has decided to revive talks with the Afghan Taliban concerning the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Bowe has been held captive by the Taliban for over 4 years now and is the only known American serviceman held captive as a prisoner of war.
According to a report from The Washington Post late Monday, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with the decision, the proposed negotiation includes the release of five Taliban prisoners who have been held at Guantanamo for years to protective custody in exchange for the release of Bowe who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009. The post reported that senior officials from the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies decided within the past month to allow the release of all five prisoners at the same time, although the offer has not yet been formally made. One of the major differences in the new offer is that previous negotiations discussed a time lapsed release of the Gitmo prisoners vs. the release of all five at the same time.
I know there will be many out there who will contest the release of the Taliban prisoners but I ask you to consider the following before making your final judgement. The Afghanistan War, as far as our involvement, is winding down whether we leave troops in country or not. Negotiating a POW release is common practice throughout history and prisoner exchanges are a normal mode of these types of negotiations. Attempts to obtain Sgt. Bergdahl’s release holds a far higher degree of possible success while U.S. troops are still present in the area of operations and with upcoming issues concerning a pact with Afghanistan prior to 2015, the time is opportune to get this young man home now. It would also, (finally), be a good sign of our support for our troops who are still there that America hasn’t forgotten them and would be a major morale booster for our warriors still there.
To see my previous reports concern our hero Sgt. Bowe, click here: https://fggam.org/fate-of-american-pow-sgt-bowe-bergdahl-hangs-in-balance-over-security-pact/
You can read more about the possible release here: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/18/us-reportedly-weighing-prisoner-swap-with-taliban-to-free-american-pow/
PLEASE keep Sgt Bowe and his family in your prayers until we get this hero home!