The US Army has wrapped up its investigation into how a US soldier was captured by Taliban insurgents in 2009, and senior officers will weigh the findings, Pentagon officials said on Friday.
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was held by militants as a prisoner of war after disappearing from his base in eastern Afghanistan.
He was released in May in a swap for Taliban inmates held at the US-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After questioning Bergdahl and others, army investigators have finished their inquiry, and now top commanders and officials have to decide on the next step, officials said.
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was due to be briefed on the findings, officials said.
“The secretary has not been briefed on the results of the Bergdahl investigation. I suspect he will be, perhaps as early as this afternoon,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.
Army officers could conclude that Bergdahl did nothing wrong or order that he face a court martial for alleged desertion — a charge that in theory carries the death penalty, although execution would be highly unlikely.
The army appointed Major General Kenneth Dahl to question the 28-year-old after US President Barack Obama came under fire for releasing five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl’s release.
Obama has defended the deal, saying it was an iron-clad principle for the US to secure the release of its prisoners of war.
Some soldiers have alleged that Bergdahl walked out of his unit willingly, putting other troops at risk as they searched for him. Their account has sparked outrage in some circles over the prisoner swap. Bergdahl is being defended by prominent lawyer Eugene Fidell, who teaches at Yale Law School.
Fidell, while declining to discuss the case in depth publicly, has said that Bergdahl was proud to wear the US uniform and has been made a scapegoat by people opposed to closing down the controversial prison camp in Cuba.
After undergoing health exams, Bergdahl has returned to duty and is working an office job at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.
The Pentagon said it was up to the army as to whether the details of the probe would be released
“It is an army investigation, and it is army’s decision to determine what, if anything, they will do,” Kirby told reporters.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka has spent decades uncovering Russian spy networks, sabotage attempts and disinformation campaigns against Europe. Speaking in an interview from a high-security compound on the outskirts of Prague, he is now warning allies that pushing Kyiv to accept significant concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only embolden the Kremlin. “Russia would spend perhaps the next 10 to 15 years recovering from its huge human and economic losses and preparing for the next target, which is central and eastern Europe,” said Koudelka, a major general who heads the country’s Security Information Service. “If Ukraine loses, or is forced
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
RSS