A previously unseen photograph shows an American P.O.W. and a Taliban commander in what at least one right-leaning U.S. publication is calling a “bro hug.”
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the American P.O.W. freed in a high-stakes prisoner exchange in Afghanistan in May, appears smiling and at ease alongside a Taliban commander in a new photograph posted to Twitter by someone associated with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, according to Fox News.
#Exclusive#US Solider #Bergdahl with Martyr #Taliban Leader Badar'udin Haqqani(RH) S/O Shaykh Jalaludin Haqqani(HA) pic.twitter.com/ddrqHCn0aK— خرسان البلاغ (@khorasan313) July 9, 2014
The photograph's authenticity could not be immediately verified by Mashable, though the Middle East Research Institute has confirmed the identity of the senior Taliban commander as Badruddin Haqqani.
Bergdahl, now back in the United States and undergoing psychiatric counseling in Texas, is seen wearing a white shirt, smiling and looking slightly emaciated in the photograph. Standing next to him, with his arm around the P.O.W., is Haqqani. He, too, is smiling, one eyebrow slightly raised.
Haqqani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in August 2012, meaning the photograph is at least almost two years old.
Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in June 2009 after walking away from his base in eastern Afghanistan. He was freed nearly five years later in a prisoner exchange for five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay, creating a furor in the United States.
Some soldiers and politicians had called him a deserter, while others have urged the country to wait for the facts to come out. In the letters obtained by The Daily Beast, Bergdahl seemed to know of the potential firestorm of controversy that awaited him if he was ever set free -- and urged restraint.
“If this letter makes it to the U.S.A., tell those involved in the investigation that there are more sides to the cittuwation (sic),” he wrote in a letter dated March 23, 2013. “Please tell D.C. to wait for all evadince (sic) to come in.”