Guantanamo detainee freed in Bowe Bergdahl swap 'back to terrorism'
Fears one of the prisoners released in exchange for the US PoW has made contact again with the Taliban
Bowe Bergdahl in a video released by the Taliban in 2010 Photo: AFP
By Josie Ensor, US Correspondent
1:50AM GMT 30 Jan 2015
A Guantanamo Bay prisoner released last year as part of an exchange for captured US serviceman Bowe Bergdahl has resumed contact with the Taliban, according to reports.
The former detainee - one of five men released in a controversial deal which saw the return of the US PoW from Afghanistan - is said to have been in touch with members of the al-Qaeda linked Haqqani network.
This is the first suggestion that any of the detainees involved in the swap may be trying to engage again in militant activity.
The five, who mostly held mid- to high-level positions within the Taliban before their capture during the early days of the US-led war in Afghanistan, were detained because of their association with the terror group.
Since their release they have been living in Qatar, which promised to monitor the men on behalf of the US.
The Pentagon said Thursday that it is working with Qatar and is confident that any threat posed by the former detainees can be mitigated.
US Sen Lindsey Graham, who recently visited Qatar, said he had been afraid that one of the detainees had left the country, but said he was assured during his visit that all five remain in the small Gulf nation.
Qatar gained public praise from President Barack Obama for brokering the controversial deal in May 2014 that freed Army Sgt. Bergdahl from Taliban captivity in exchange for the release of the five senior Taliban officials who had been imprisoned for years at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
Qatar promised Mr Obama it would keep the five under watch for one year, although they would then be free to leave.
"It's just a year deal," Mr Graham told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Just as sure as we're sitting here, they're going back to the fight."
"They've had some Haqqani people come to meet with them. ... They're reaching out. The Taliban five are communicating with people inside Afghanistan."
However, Mr Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a leading Capitol Hill voice on foreign policy, said all five are still in Qatar.
"I was afraid one had left, but they told me they're all still there," he said.
The Pentagon said in a statement that it would not comment on specific cases involving the detainees.
"However, we take any incidence of re-engagement very seriously, and we work in close coordination through military, intelligence, law enforcement and diplomatic channels to mitigate re-engagement and to take follow-on action when necessary," the statement said. "The Defense Department has a close security partnership with the government of Qatar. We're confident in our ability to continue to mitigate any threat that may be posed by the former Guantanamo detainees."
Haqqani operates in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and has been one of the deadliest threats to US troops in the war. The network, which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2012, claims allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, yet operates with some degree of autonomy.
