You can see this in any war movie: When it’s raining bullets, one of the heroes falls to the ground on the middle of the battlefield. His buddy tries to save him. The wounded man objects. “Just leave me here! Don’t jeopardize the mission!” he says. His buddy won’t listen. Risking his own life, he drags or carries his injured comrade to safety in what is usually the most dramatic scene in the film.
In real battles, one imagines them waiting till the shooting has stopped, but the goal is always the same: not to leave anyone behind.
Occasionally a tourist will be held abroad, by a state government such as that of Iran or North Korea. Even if it takes a long time, US diplomats at all levels — aided by Switzerland and other countries — do what they can to free them.
Thus it was with joy that many Americans received the news on May 31 that the United States had secured the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive by the Taliban for five years.
Bowe Bergdahl had been held captive by the Taliban for five years
Bergdahl, who is from Idaho, was 23 when he disappeared in eastern Afghanistan. He is now 28. He broke down in tears when the special-forces soldiers who came to get him said they had been looking for him for a long time.
Some Americans are not sure that that happy ending is well-deserved. The circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture are disputed. In an area known to be life-threatening to Americans, Bergdahl is believed to have wandered off the military base. He had expressed dissatisfaction with the US mission in Afghanistan, had taught himself some Pashto and had befriended some of the local people.
Was he a deserter, or perhaps a spy? Diplomats and spies are told at the start of their careers that no one will come to their rescue if they are kidnapped. Secret agents are told that their government will deny any association with them. Expect no help. You are on your own!
It’s unlikely that Bergdahl was anyone special. He was a simple infantryman — an army private — who had served for only a few months. The rank of sergeant was given to him in absentia.
Two or possibly six soldiers died in 2009 during several attempts to locate Bergdahl. His freedom was finally bought by the simultaneous release of five prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay. According to the deal reached with the help of the Qatari government, these Guantánamo inmates are supposed to live in Qatar for at least a year and not be able to leave, but it’s hard to believe they will really stay there. The fear is that radicals everywhere will kidnap more Americans, knowing they can trade them for their compatriots.
Leading Republicans, such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, are incensed that Barack Obama did not inform Congress of the planned prisoner release, as he was supposed to. Rogers accuses Obama of having “negotiated with terrorists” — a taboo that carries just as much weight as leaving someone behind.
The US has in fact been talking to the Taliban for a long time
Evil as the Taliban are, they are not terrorists. The US has been talking to them for a long time: back in the 1980s as the Mujahideen, when the US supported them against the Soviet occupiers; during the 1990s, when US companies tried to have an oil pipeline built in Afghanistan; and in 2001, when the current war started. The US has never not talked to the Taliban.
As US troops withdraw from Afghanistan, the US government has been talking openly about negotiating certain things with them, such as cease-fires — and as White House spokesman Jay Carney told CNN on Tuesday: “The principle that we don’t leave our men and women behind doesn’t have an asterisk attached to it depending on who’s holding you.”
It’s worth remembering the prisoner exchanges that have taken place in every other war as well as the exchanges of spies that — in spite of what the spies themselves had been told — often took place during the Cold War.
This is not a new policy. It is a practical one. And had the negotiations happened earlier, the soldiers among those tasked with saving Private Bergdahl might not have died.
Language note: Saving Private Ryan is the original title of the film known in German as Der Soldat James Ryan.
