Some members wanted a ransom payment for Bergdahl, in addition to the release of the Guantanamo detainees. But the leadership prevailed. “We told them that these five men are more important than millions of dollars to us,” he says. He was more tolerant of complaints from Taliban foot soldiers that pointed out that for all the celebrations surrounding the officials’ release, there was no reward or recognition for the Taliban fighters who captured Bergdahl in 2009. But that’s not likely to get in the way of future attempts to kidnap American soldiers, across all ranks.◼ Hagel faces House grilling on legality of Bergdahl-Taliban swap - Washington Times
Asked whether the Taliban would be inspired by the exchange to kidnap others, he laughed. “Definitely,” he says. “It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people. It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”
◼ USA sees 'substantial progress' in freeing more Gitmo detainees this year - Yahoo
◼ 'NO APOLOGIES' - Mail.uk
◼ Obama makes 'absolutely no apologies' for Bergdahl terror trade and claims POW would have been KILLED by Taliban if he had told Congress◼ 'IMPEACHMENT' IF HE DOES IT AGAIN - The Hill
◼ Obama appeared in Brussels alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron during a G7 meeting in Brussels
◼ He insisted that 'we had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated,' despite a fit-looking Bergdahl who appeared in a Taliban video during Saturday's hostage hand-over
◼ Administration officials reportedly told U.S. senators Wednesday that they weer kept in the dark because the Taliban threatened to kill Bergdahl if a prison-swap plan was leaked to the public
◼ But Congress was advised in 2011 and 2012 of two separate plans to make a similar deal, and nothing was leaked despite unanimous opposition
◼ Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that giving Congress 30 days' notice, as federal law requires, 'would have seriously imperiled us ever getting him out'
◼ Taliban Commanders Say Found Bergdahl Cursing Countrymen - NBC
◼ Declared jihad in '10, secret docs show - FOX
◼ HOMETOWN WELCOME CANCELED - Reuters
◼ Growing fury in Congress - LA Times
◼ Reid on Notification: 'What difference does it make?' - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ WILL: When a president goes rogue
Obama says his agents “consulted with Congress for quite some time” about prisoner exchanges with the Taliban. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, says there have been no consultations since 2011. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) says “I don’t like it when the White House says the intelligence committees were briefed. Because we weren’t.” He says Obama is “referring to . . . 2011-2012, when I was still in grade school.”
◼ Detainee Release Rattles Afghans - Wall St. Journal
Some Recall Scorched-Earth Offensive Led by One of the Freed Prisoners...
The villages of Shomali were once the orchard of central Afghanistan, and the plain's carefully tended vineyards were famous for their grapes....When the Taliban seized control of this area from their Northern Alliance rivals in 1999, they systematically demolished entire villages, blowing up houses, burning fields and seeding the land with mines, according to two comprehensive studies of war crimes and atrocities during wars in Afghanistan and human rights reports. Mr. Fazl played a major role in the destruction.
"There was not a single undamaged house or garden," said Masjidi Fatehzada, a shopkeeper in Mir Bacha Kot, the district center. "My entire shop was burned to the ground. There was nothing left."
