Bergdahl deal: Obama wins in the US, lets down the world

The Bergdahl's with President Obama

Over the weekend the United States struck a deal with the Taliban for the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was held a prisoner of war (POW) since 2009. While the return of a POW is always a joyous occasion, has Washington set a bad precedent? Also, has it paid a heavy price? The answer to both is yes. For Bergdahl’s release five senior Taliban militants have been released from the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. This includes Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, a former Taliban interior minister and Abdul Haq Wasiq, who was the deputy chief of intelligence for the Taliban. The swap deal, without doubt, will embolden terrorist groups and will make it hard for Kabul to tackle the menace. On Monday, an Indian air worker was kidnapped from a school in Herat, Afghanistan. A few days ago the Indian consulate in Heart was attacked in which four terrorists were killed. The White House hopes that this deal will help it open a channel with the Taliban. It also hopes that the five men are unlikely to be as dangerous as they were. Only the naïve can buy this argument after about 30% of the total released Gitmo detainees have returned to terror activities.

Kandahar 1999

After the IC-814 hijacking in Kandahar in 1999, India released three terrorists — Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar — for the safe passage of more than 170 passengers. All three went on to commit deadly acts of terror — Azhar found the Jaish-e-Muhammed, which was behind the 2001 Parliament attack; Sheikh was involved in beheading Daniel Pearl; and Zargar has been training terrorists in camps in PoK. At the best of times deals with terrorists leave the negotiating government a Hobson’s choice. But this deal, especially when there are reports that Bergdahl was ‘delusional’ about the US mission in Afghanistan and that he ‘walked away from his unit’ raises disturbing questions.
It’s an irony that the US, while leaving Afghanistan, struck a deal with the Taliban — the same group it vouched to overthrow 13 years ago. President Barack Obama has managed to ‘leave no man behind’ and is thus a hero in the US. But as the leader of a global superpower he has let down countries in the region, India one among them.