U.S. seeks prisoner swap with Taliban to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl - Polidicks

[quote]In an effort to free American captive Bowe Bergdahl before the bulk of U.S. forces leave Afghanistan this year, the Obama administration has decided to try to resume talks with the Taliban and sweeten an offer to trade Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Army sergeant, current and former officials said. Five members of the Afghan Taliban who have been held at Guantanamo for years would be released to protective custody in Qatar in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and is thought to be held in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, an allied insurgent group. To refresh the American offer, which has been on the table for more than two years, senior officials from the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies decided within the past month to allow the simultaneous release of all five men. Taliban representatives had objected to the previous plan to release the prisoners by ones or twos as a test of Taliban and Qatari intermediaries’ ability to make sure the men did not return to militancy. Two people familiar with the decision stressed that it was the Taliban that broke off negotiations nearly two years ago and that the U.S. door to talks has been open since. The renewed offer has not been formally made, and no State Department or other officials have immediate plans to travel to Doha, Qatar, where any contact facilitated by the Qatari government would take place. The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Friday that U.S. officials are eager to get the soldier back. “He’s been gone too long,” Kirby told reporters during a briefing. “We want him back. We’ve never stopped trying to bring that about. He’s never far from anyone’s mind here.” Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline parts of a strategy they described as a last-ditch effort to engage the Taliban.[/quote] [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-seeks-prisoner-swap-with-taliban-to-free-army-sgt-bowe-bergdahl/2014/02/17/f142ed50-9590-11e3-afce-3e7c922ef31e_story.html]Washington Post[/url]

He got a very nordic last name.

Is he the only soldier the Taliban has or what? If he isn't we need to be pushing for more than just a 5-1 deal.

[QUOTE=plokoon9619;44015506]Is he the only soldier the Taliban has or what? If he isn't we need to be pushing for more than just a 5-1 deal.[/QUOTE] AFAIK he's the only one.

Holy shit, he's been in captivity for 5 years?

*woops got information from outdated news story* Then again he wrote letters to his parents to the tune of wanting to waltz away to Pakistan and abandon everything to become a mercenary so I wouldn't be surprised if this story was the true one either. The taliban can keep him. It appears there are actually several versions of events with the most common he just payed some locals to drive him away and instead got dumped off to the taliban instead. Either way he's still a massive idiot and people still died looking for this moron because he thought he could just waltz away.

So much for not negotiating with terrorists. Oh, wait.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists" fuck u adlertag u big meanie :(

Maybe they'll do it like in the movies where they exchange prisoners and then just have a load of helicopters appear and just raze everything while patriotic music blares out.

[QUOTE=Adlertag1940;44015875]So much for not negotiating with terrorists. Oh, wait.[/QUOTE] There is no official policy saying "we don't negotiate with terrorists". It's something dumb Hollywood made up to give a reason for why dumb action movies resolve their plots with action and not peaceful diplomacy. We negotiate with them all the time, as a matter of fact.

Are there any other guys being held captive in Afghanistan? Lets get them outta there. This war is drawing to a close and we don't need anymore American deaths over there.

They've left him there for 5 years?

This is one of the situations where you plant explosives inside of the 5 Taliban or even some magic gps to track these fuckers than J-dam em to oblivion. He goes home, more terrorist dead. Everyone's happy!

[QUOTE=fourkillmaster;44017874]This is one of the situations where you plant explosives inside of the 5 Taliban or even some magic gps to track these fuckers than J-dam em to oblivion. He goes home, more terrorist dead. Everyone's happy![/QUOTE] Regardless of which side pulls the trigger first, the Taliban are not to be trusted and are more likely to pull some shit. Quite frankly as soon as we get our sarge, kill all 5 of the tradies. It seems gruesome and awful, but that minimizes the chance of them trying to fuck us over and it doesn't allow them to go back to terrorism. These guys have been taught from birth that if they don't believe in allah and all that fancy shit, death to the infidels. I'm pretty confident killing them would do everyone a favor at this point.

[QUOTE=Lukeo;44017775]They've left him there for 5 years?[/QUOTE] It's clear in the article that they've tried to negotiate him back times before.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;44018116]It's clear in the article that they've tried to negotiate him back times before.[/QUOTE] Still, thought the US would exert more power to get back their own after all this time

[QUOTE=Michael haxz;44018113]Regardless of which side pulls the trigger first, the Taliban are not to be trusted and are more likely to pull some shit. Quite frankly as soon as we get our sarge, kill all 5 of the tradies. It seems gruesome and awful, but that minimizes the chance of them trying to fuck us over and it doesn't allow them to go back to terrorism. These guys have been taught from birth that if they don't believe in allah and all that fancy shit, death to the infidels. I'm pretty confident killing them would do everyone a favor at this point.[/QUOTE] And then lose any chance of further diplomacy. Good idea.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44018509]And then lose any chance of further diplomacy. Good idea.[/QUOTE] This isn't a Uniformed Faction, this is a independent group that has no desire for diplomacy what so ever

[QUOTE=Michael haxz;44018545]This isn't a Uniformed Faction, this is a independent group that has no desire for diplomacy what so ever[/QUOTE] Good fucking luck trying to negotiate for a release when you're known to kill everyone afterwards.

ITT: people who don't understand basic concepts of war.

[QUOTE=Superkilll307;44020169]ITT: people who don't understand basic concepts of war.[/QUOTE] Do tell what concepts

[QUOTE=Michael haxz;44018545]This isn't a Uniformed Faction, this is a independent group that has no desire for [B]diplomacy [/B]what so ever[/QUOTE] I don't think you know what this word means.

[QUOTE=BusterBluth;44020412]Do tell what concepts[/QUOTE] Avoid bloodshed if possible. Don't push the enemy into a corner where they won't negotiate. Diplomacy first, death second. Pretty obvious ideas.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44016620]There is no official policy saying "we don't negotiate with terrorists". It's something dumb Hollywood made up to give a reason for why dumb action movies resolve their plots with action and not peaceful diplomacy. We negotiate with them all the time, as a matter of fact.[/QUOTE] I think it comes from the fact that most governments will refuse to pay ransoms or give other concessions to kidnappers. That makes sense in that context, because doing so will just encourage other kidnappers. Terrorist groups on the other hand tend to be larger, more disparate and have larger goals, where it becomes not so much a case of beating them through sheer physical force, but using physical force to force them to the negotiation table, which is what eventually happened in Northern Ireland.

[QUOTE=Camundongo;44021077]I think it comes from the fact that most governments will refuse to pay ransoms or give other concessions to kidnappers. That makes sense in that context, because doing so will just encourage other kidnappers. Terrorist groups on the other hand tend to be larger, more disparate and have larger goals, where it becomes not so much a case of beating them through sheer physical force, but using physical force to force them to the negotiation table, which is what eventually happened in Northern Ireland.[/QUOTE] Not really, most Guerrilla groups can never be beaten unless your willing to resort to things that would make you no better than the terrorists, with terrorists and guerrilla groups force is pointless and Diplomacy and education are all that prevails, in Northern Ireland for example the IRA were never really beat they converted to a non terrorist group after about 30 years and plenty of diplomacy on the part of the British Government, such as the shared Governance and then self governance of Northern Ireland, but even then it caused a split and that's why you have the modern drug dealing IRA.

[QUOTE=Superkilll307;44022333]Not really, most Guerrilla groups can never be beaten unless your willing to resort to things that would make you no better than the terrorists, with terrorists and guerrilla groups force is pointless and Diplomacy and education are all that prevails, in Northern Ireland for example the IRA were never really beat they converted to a non terrorist group after about 30 years and plenty of diplomacy on the part of the British Government, such as the shared Governance and then self governance of Northern Ireland, but even then it caused a split and that's why you have the modern drug dealing IRA.[/QUOTE] I agree with you generally, but sometimes you do need military action to bring people to the negotiation table, such as with the IRA (when then realised that no matter how many times they attempted to break the political will of the British government through acts of terrorism against civilians or overt acts against military targets, it probably wasn't going to happen), but ,as you say, in the long term negotiations and diplomacy are the only ways to permanently solve a political conflict.

[QUOTE=Camundongo;44022909]I agree with you generally, but sometimes you do need military action to bring people to the negotiation table, such as with the IRA (when then realised that no matter how many times they attempted to break the political will of the British government through acts of terrorism against civilians or overt acts against military targets, it probably wasn't going to happen), but ,as you say, in the long term negotiations and diplomacy are the only ways to permanently solve a political conflict.[/QUOTE] I don't entirely agree Military action against Guerrilla groups almost always seem to fail, and especially if its a war, like the Viet Kong for instance. The IRA didn't relise That couldn't break the British governments will, more so it took years of concessions on the part of the British government to try and coincide both sides, and after years of work to reconcile the NI community's it moved to a peaceful organisation and even then modern day elements remain.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44016620]There is no official policy saying "we don't negotiate with terrorists". It's something dumb Hollywood made up to give a reason for why dumb action movies resolve their plots with action and not peaceful diplomacy. We negotiate with them all the time, as a matter of fact. [/QUOTE] A few scattered, questionable incidents [URL="http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2011/10/does-america-ne.html/"]that can be counted on one hand[/URL] is not 'all the time'. And Hollywood sure didn't make it up considering the State Department holds it [URL="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/state-dept-us-does-not-negotiate-terrorists"]word-for-word[/URL] as official policy. You can find this with thirty seconds on Google. The number of people who click 'agree' without reading for themselves is appalling.

[QUOTE=catbarf;44023437]A few scattered, questionable incidents [URL="http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2011/10/does-america-ne.html/"]that can be counted on one hand[/URL] is not 'all the time'. And Hollywood sure didn't make it up considering the State Department holds it [URL="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/state-dept-us-does-not-negotiate-terrorists"]word-for-word[/URL] as official policy. You can find this with thirty seconds on Google. The number of people who click 'agree' without reading for themselves is appalling.[/QUOTE] Just for the record Negotiation and Prisoner Exchange is not the same thing.

[QUOTE=Superkilll307;44020169]ITT: people who don't understand basic concepts of war.[/QUOTE] Except this isn't a conventional war. This is guerrilla warfare where the man you gave water to yesterday is now blowing up convoys the next. They don't play by the Geneva Convention and neither should we.