Did We Pay a Ransom for Bergdahl's Release?

By Kim D.

In the aftermath of the hasty trade of five of the worst Taliban terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay for one American the Obama administration has called a prisoner of war, questions abound about the legitimacy of this deal and the people who made it. Was Bergdahl a deserter or was he captured? Was his health really in jeopardy, leaving no time to give Congress the required 30-day notice before a prisoner exchange is made? Did Susan Rice flub it again when she claimed Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction?"

Over the weekend, a new question began surfacing: how much did we pay the Haqqanis for Bergdahl's release? Wait a second - Bergdahl was a POW right? Since when is a ransom paid for a prisoner? Things don't quite add up, and the official story coming out of the White House simply isn't passing the smell test. 

According to The Washington Free Beacon, details of the high-profile prisoner swap that freed Bowe Bergdahl . . . are not telling the full story, according to a high-level intelligence official involved in efforts to find and rescue the Army sergeant. The Haqqani Network, a terrorist group operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, freed Bergdahl on Saturday after holding him captive for five years in exchange for the release of five Guantanamo Bay prison inmates.

A senior intelligence official with intimate knowledge of the years-long effort to locate and rescue Bergdahl told the Washington Free Beacon that the details of that exchange do not add up. The official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, speculated that a cash ransom was paid to the Haqqani Network to get the group to free the prisoner.

The Obama administration reportedly considered offering cash for his release as late as December 2013. The State Department has repeatedly refused to say whether the deal that released Bergdahl involved any cash payment. The ransom plan was reportedly abandoned, but the intelligence official insisted that there is reason to believe that cash changed hands as part of the deal.

“The Haqqanis could give a rat’s ass about prisoners,” the official said, referring to the Haqqani Network, a designated terrorist group in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were freed in exchange for Bergdahl’s release. “The people that are holding Bergdahl want[ed] cash and someone paid it to them,” he said.

The official cited his work over the course of a decade dealing with hostage situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Haqqani, he said,“benefits zero from the prisoner exchange. … Based on 10 years of working with those guys, the only thing that would make them move Bergdahl is money.”