Taliban talks breakdown over Bergdahl exchange?

Florian Flade, who writes the very useful Jih@d website, is the latest to suggest that Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier held by the Haqqani Network in Pakistan, is the 'Western hostage' who was being lined up for release in exchange for five high-ranking Taliban prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay. A negative political reaction to the deal in Washington is the likely reason talks with the Taliban broke down last week.
Flade notes that on 31 January the Obama Administration briefed US Senate leaders that a prisoner transfer deal was being considered. In exchange for an unnamed hostage, the five Taliban leaders slated for release to house arrest in Qatar were due to include former Taliban interior minister Mullah Khair Khowa, former provincial governor Noorullah Noori and former commander Mullah Fazul Akhund.
However, the reaction from the eight Senate leaders was lukewarm to say the least; most refused to comment directly on the deal or to confirm Bergdahl's participation, but several made negative-sounding comments: "If it's intended to be a ‘confidence-building measure,' that is an extreme measure. If it's a swap, it's worthy of consideration of Congress, if that is the premise of it," said Senator John McCain.
Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein said "These are major Taliban figures, they are not minor people. And they will not be in the same kind of custody, maximum-security custody. Forget that it won't be Guantánamo, just maximum-security custody," she said. "And in my view, there's no way of knowing what they may do and what kind of propaganda they may breed."
This negative reaction to the proposed deal is the likely reason that the Taliban broke off negotiations with the Americans last week.
As the Taliban noted in a formal statement on its own website last Thursday: "the political envoys of the Islamic Emirate agreed upon the inauguration of a diplomatic office, the arrangement about which was already made with the government of Qatar and started holding preliminary talks with the occupying enemy over the exchange of prisoners. The Americans initially agreed upon taking practical steps regarding the exchange of prisoners and to not oppose our political office but with the passage of time, they turned their backs on their promises and started initiating baseless propaganda portraying the envoys of the Islamic Emirate as having commenced multilateral negotiations for solving the Afghan dilemma."
Clearly pissed off with the apparent backtracking by the Americans, the Taliban added: "the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time."
Bergdahl has been held by the Taliban since 20 June 2009, when he walked out of a military outpost in Paktika and disappeared. Since then the Taliban has issued five videos featuring him. In most of these videos Bergdahl appears to be somewhat cooperative with his captors, although his family and supporters deny this. He has spoken critically of US foreign policy and there are unconfirmed reports that he has converted to Islam. In his last video he was wearing a long beard. His captor is thought to be Mullah Sangin Zadran, a powerful warlord loyal to the Haqqanis from the Zadran tribe that straddles the Afghan border and into North Waziristan.

Bergdahl says he is "healthy, well and safe"

The video released by the Taliban on Christmas Day of captured US soldier Bowe Bergdahl does little to resolve the question of whether or not he is a traitor. Put out by Al-Emara Jihadi Studio, the Taliban's new media arm - until earlier this year they relied on the Pakistan-based As-Sahab media house - the video, entitled One of their People Testified, is mainly a propaganda argument about the treatment of prisoners. Much of its 37 minutes is taken up with details of the atrocities committed against moslem prisoners in Guantanamo and at Bagram in Afghanistan, together with footage from Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
All of this, of course, was free propaganda for the Islamists and starkly illustrates why mistreatment of prisoners is ultimately counter-productive.
This is the second video of Bergdahl, who was captured on 30 June in eastern Afghanistan and is probably being held by the Haqqani faction of the Taliban, based over the border in Pakistan's North Waziristan.
The video was produced by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's Commission of Cultural Affairs and contains a warning at the beginning that it should not be seen with a musical accompaniment.
Only after a long introduction about American treatment of prisoners do we see Bergdahl himself. In contrast to the first video, where he was shown wearing traditional Afghan clothes, in the new video he is wearing his battledress, a military helmet and sunglasses and it is difficult to tell whether or not he is reading a prepared statement.
He speaks in the first person and seems to be extemporising when he says, for example, that "the numbers and facts prove that we have surpassed Hitler in his horror". His speech is rambling, but he occasionally looks to one side as if he may be looking at some general notes. Clearly his captors do not want it to appear that he is reading from a prepared statement.
He tells his parents at one point that he is "so sorry that it took so long to do something with my life" and that "strangely enough, I am making a lot of headway here."
He adds that "I'm healthy, I'm well, I'm safe", although he admits he is chained. Still shots show him eating a banana. He says his captors are treating him according to their religion and that they are following their religion "more than I have seen anybody follow their religion".
He adds that he has a toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving equipment and that he is "getting meals as if I was a guest here". One possibility is that he is now studying Islam, although he does not feel confident enough to declare himself a moslem. Personally, I would not be surprised if he becomes a convert.
The video ends with a statement read by official Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who says that the offer to exchange Bergdahl for a "limited number" of Taliban prisoners still stands.
If Bergdahl is ever recaptured/freed by the US Army, there will doubtless be a debate over whether or not he has betrayed his country. His family still believes he is simply a captured prisoner. Others may be less sympathetic.

Missing US soldier spotted - report

A report in yesterday's edition of the Dari-language newspaper Roznama Cheragh says that Bowe Bergdahl, the missing US serviceman (see below) suspected of deserting, was spotted by residents of Andar district in southern Ghazni province. The report, translated on the blog In my Country, says he was seen in Ibrahazi bazaar last Friday. It adds that the unshaven soldier was seen in the company of Taliban fighters while being fitted out with Afghan clothes and a Pakool, the traditional warm hat used by many Afghans.