On Taliban Video, a Message as Soldier Is Released: Don’t Come Back

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Was Exchanged for Detainees at Guantánamo

The Taliban released a video on Wednesday showing their fighters handing over Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to American forces, providing a direct look at a dramatic moment in the American military campaign in Afghanistan that is prompting sharp criticism in Afghanistan and the United States.

The video also provided an important moment for the Taliban, and their push to refine their publicity efforts to support an argument that they are a legitimate state in exile.

Within hours of the video’s release, the Taliban website where it was posted was overwhelmed with traffic and crashed, according to Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgents. The video has since been uploaded in dozens of different versions on YouTube — a triumph for the Taliban’s efforts to get their message out, unfiltered, to a world audience.

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In the video Sergeant Bergdahl is wearing traditional Afghan robes, and his face and head appear to have been recently shaved. For much of the video, he is seen waiting in a silver and red pickup truck surrounded by Taliban fighters.

As an American Black Hawk helicopter approaches, one of the insurgents is heard telling Sergeant Bergdahl: “Don’t come back to Afghanistan. If you do, you won’t make it out alive next time.” Other insurgents standing nearby laugh at the warning.

Then the helicopter lands and Sergeant Bergdahl, clutching a plastic bag, is handed over to Americans who are wearing civilian clothes. The Americans quickly lead him away, patting him down and casually dropping the bag he was holding. They board the helicopter and fly off.

But beyond the direct images, the framing of the video by the Taliban, and the commentary heard over it, all go to reinforce the group’s portrayal of the United States as a hated invader, and of the Taliban fighters’ role as banner-carriers for Islam and Afghan pride.

The video opens with a narrator reading verses from the Quran, then, speaking in Pashto, one of Afghanistan’s two main languages, the narrator encourages Muslims to “fight these infidels.”

The narrator quickly shifts to explaining the agreement to exchange Sergeant Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees at Guantánamo Bay. For the insurgents, getting the five men back was “blissful news” and an “historic achievement,” the narrator says, which “filled up the eyes of all Muslims with tears of happiness.”

When Sergeant Bergdahl “saw his American helicopter, he was very happy and wanted to rush toward them,” one Taliban member says in the commentary.

He then expresses dismay with the Americans, who rushed through the encounter and did not stop to talk or exchange polite greetings, as is customary in Afghanistan, even during hostage releases. He complains that they had managed to shake hands with only two of the Americans, and that one of them had hastily shoved his left hand forward, considered a particularly rude gesture in Afghanistan.

Those kinds of complaints about American behavior are common across Afghan society, not just among those who want the United States military to leave.

“We wanted to convey some messages to them via the interpreter, but they didn’t spend much time with us,” the Taliban fighter says, speculating that perhaps the Americans were too frightened to linger. “They even didn’t let us shake hands with the soldier and say goodbye, and they behaved in a very simple way,” the fighter says.

The video ends with the same warning that was delivered to Sergeant Bergdahl moments before his release. The words that appear on the screen contain a misspelling, but the message seems clear. “Don come back to Afghanistan,” it says.

If the Taliban accounts heard on the video are accurate, they also add new detail to what had been reported about the transfer, which took place on Saturday in the eastern province of Khost.

American officials said they were aware of the video and were reviewing it. “We have no reason to doubt the video’s authenticity,” said Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. “Regardless, we know the transfer was peaceful and successful, and our focus remains on getting Sergeant Bergdahl the care he needs.”

Much of the video clip’s audio track consists of an interview with one of the Taliban fighters who is described as having taken part in the transfer. He talks about the arrangements that were made with the Americans, and then narrates how the American forces arrived by helicopter, with warplanes circling in the sky above. At times, the camera shifts from the Taliban fighters and Sergeant Bergdahl to show the aircraft overhead. He describes an exchange he had with an American, presumably the commander of the team, as the two worked out last-minute logistical details of the encounter, apparently the first prisoner exchange between the United States and the Taliban in the 13-year war in Afghanistan.

The insurgent gives a more specific location for the handover — the Batai area of Khost Province — than American officials, who have said only that it took place in Khost, a mountainous province along the border with Pakistan that has been the scene of fighting throughout the war. There was some talk of where precisely to meet, according to the Taliban fighter, and the Taliban agreed to the American suggestion that the two sides link up 500 yards from the house of a well-known resident. There was also some last-minute confusion. The Americans initially wanted the Taliban to hold something green as they approached with Sergeant Bergdahl, but the insurgents did not have any green cloth and the two sides quickly decided a white sheet would suffice.

The Americans then said three of them would jump from the helicopters, and that two Taliban should walk forward with Sergeant Bergdahl.