The U.S. soldier freed in exchange for five Taliban leaders landed in Texas early Friday after spending nearly two weeks in a military hospital in Germany.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in an image from a Taliban video.
AP Photo/IntelCenter, File
Bergdahl, 28, arrived on a military plane that landed about 1:40 a.m. Friday morning in San Antonio, Texas, according to local media. His repatriation comes after he was freed in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban on May 31. The Idaho native has spent the intervening time at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where he was recovering from his five years of captivity in Afghanistan. He left Germany Thursday afternoon, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Bergdahl will continue his "reintegration process" at Brooke Army Medical Center, though defense officials did not say how long he would be at the facility.
Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Bergdahl's release was announced by President Obama on May 31 with much fanfare in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. But while his story initially was presented as a simple tale of a returning POW, it quickly became murkier. As it turned out, Bergdahl had voluntarily walked away from his post. He had written emails critical of the American government. And in the days following his release, his fellow soldiers began calling him a deserter.
The resulting questions regarding Bergdahl's loyalties ignited a political firestorm, though both Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Obama have defended the prisoner swap.
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1qEmrH1
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