Qatar has moved five Afghan Taliban prisoners freed in exchange for a US soldier to a residential compound and will let them move freely in the country, a senior Gulf official said yesterday, a step likely to be scrutinised by Washington.
US officials have referred to the release of the Islamist militants as a “transfer” and said they would be subject to certain restrictions in Qatar. One of the officials said that would include a minimum one-year ban on them travelling outside of Qatar as well as monitoring of their activities.
“All five men received medical checks and they now live with their families in an accommodation facility in Doha,” said the Gulf source, who declined to be identified. “They can move around freely within the country.”
Following the deal under which Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the last American soldier held in Afghanistan, was freed, concerns have been expressed by some US intelligence officials and congressional advisers over the role of the Gulf Arab state as a bridge between Washington and the world of radical Islam.
Qatari permits
The Gulf official said the Taliban men, who have been granted Qatari residency permits, will not be treated like prisoners while in Doha and no US officials will be involved in monitoring their movements while in the country.
“Under the deal, they have to stay in Qatar for a year and then they will be allowed to travel outside the country . . . They can go back to Afghanistan if they want to,” the official said.
The five, who had been held at the US Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba since 2002, arrived in Qatar on Sunday where US security personnel handed them over to Qatari authorities in the al-Udeid area west of Doha, site of a US military base.
Sgt Bergdahl had been held for almost five years by the Taliban in Afghanistan and his release followed years of on/off negotiations.
President Barack Obama defended himself yesterday against Republican criticism of the swap for Sgt Bergdahl, who is accused by his fellow soldiers of deserting his unit and turning his back on his country.
Speaking in Poland, Mr Obama said the rescue of the sergeant upheld a “sacred rule” that the US does not “leave our men or women in uniform behind”.
Republican lawmakers, however, are demanding hearings into whether Mr Obama violated the law by not consulting Congress over the swap deal.
The US military's top uniformed officer, Gen Martin Dempsey, signalled a possible investigation into Sgt Bergdahl, but stressed he would remain innocent until proven guilty.
Gen Dempsey, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said in a Facebook post that “this was likely the last, best opportunity to free” Sgt Bergdahl after five years of captivity. The US is preparing to withdraw all but 9,800 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. He added the army “will not look away from misconduct if it occurred”. – (Reuters)