Captured in 2009, Bergdahl is reportedly the captive of the Haqqani network, which is allied with the Taliban. But the Taliban could hold the power for the sergeant’s release, if the Obama administration can reach an agreement on a prisoner exchange involving some of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

 

Bob and Jani Bergdahl recently went public, telling a local newspaper in Idaho that they believe their son could be brought home through aggressive negotiations.

 

“Everybody is frustrated with how slowly the process has evolved,” Bob Bergdahl told the Idaho Mountain Express.

 

In an interview with The New York Times, he said: “We don’t have faith in the U.S. government being able to reconcile this.” Bob Bergdahl added that negotiations with the Taliban have stalled because Obama is reacting to pressure from Congress in an election year not to negotiate with terrorists.

 

“Because it is an election year, this is something that is a political liability,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

POW’s Parents Push for Action (by Gregory Foley, Idaho Mountain Express)

Parents of P.O.W. Reveal U.S. Talks on Taliban Swap (by Elisabeth Bumiller and Matthew Rosenberg, New York Times)

Taliban Captive's Father Pleads for Release (by Julian Barnes and Adam Entous, Wall Street Journal)

Only U.S. Prisoner of War in Afghanistan Appears in Video (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)