e45627fc-7440-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html%23comments-wrapper

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-facts-about-the-taliban-five/2020/04/03/e45627fc-7440-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html#comments-wrapper
The facts about the ‘Taliban Five’

In recounting negotiations between Republican officials and the “Taliban Five” who were controversially released from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the March 31 front-page article “ ‘Taliban Five’ ex-detainees helped clinch pact with U.S.” glossed over several significant points. A year-long congressional investigation revealed the Obama administration misled Congress and engaged in a months-long effort to sidestep the legal requirement to provide notification 30 days before these detainees were moved out. The investigation also found that career Defense Department officials, who were ordinarily responsible for minimizing the risk of sending detainees elsewhere, were intentionally sidelined. Furthermore, the inquiry concluded that after the Taliban Five arrived in Qatar, the Pentagon was poorly prepared to help implement the security arrangements the administration had put in place.

These are relevant facts in assessing the propriety of the Obama administration’s actions, regardless of the wisdom or desirability of freeing the Taliban Five or engaging them now in an effort to secure peace in Afghanistan.

Christopher J. Bright, Oakton

The writer led the oversight and investigations subcommittee staff of the House Armed Services Committee when it conducted the inquiry into the
release of the Taliban Five.