BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday the military operation to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban in exchange for the release of five Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees was not relayed to Congress because officials believed the soldier’s life was in danger.
In his first extensive public comments about Saturday’s operation, Hagel said intelligence the U.S. had gathered suggested that Bergdahl’s “safety and health were both in jeopardy, and in particular his health was deteriorating.”
Taliban members handed Bergdahl over to special operations forces in eastern Afghanistan, and later in the day the detainees were flown from the Guantanamo detention center to Qatar.
The Pentagon did not give Congress the required 30-day notice for the release of detainees.
Hagel said it was the administration’s judgment the military had to move quickly to get Bergdahl out, “essentially to save his life.”
He said it was the unanimous consensus of the National Security Council, and the president has the authority to order such a release under Article 2 of the Constitution.
Only a handful of people knew about the operation and Hagel said “we couldn’t afford any leaks anywhere, for obvious reasons.”
Speaking to reporters traveling with him just hours after Bergdahl was flown from Afghanistan to a military medical center in Germany, Hagel said the special operations forces conducting the operation took every precaution, using intelligence gathering, surveillance, well-positioned security assets and a lot of helicopters to ensure that things did not go wrong.
“No shots were fired. There was no violence,” said Hagel. “It went as well as we not only expected and planned, but I think as well as it could have …The timing was right. The pieces came together.”
Hagel said he was hopeful the prisoner exchange could lead to a breakthrough with the Taliban.
He said the focus of the operation was on the successful return of Bergdahl, but “maybe this could provide some possible new bridge for new negotiations.”
The U.S. has long argued that the best way to a successful outcome in Afghanistan included reconciliation with the Taliban insurgents.
Asked if this type of swap might embolden other militants to take hostages, Hagel said that this operation was a prisoner exchange. And he said terrorist groups are already kidnapping young school girls, business people and other innocent people.
Hagel declined to say whether he believes Bergdahl was attempting to desert the Army or go absent without leave when he walked away from his unit and disappeared nearly five years ago.
“Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family,” Hagel said. “Other circumstances that may develop and questions - those will be dealt with later.”
He added that his own time in Vietnam and the fact that he knew people like Sen. John McCain of Arizona who was a prisoner of war, gives him a personal connection to such an exchange.
“This is a very happy day for the Bergdahl family,” Hagel said. “It’s a very important day for our troops and our country.”
Hagel said he planned to talk to the Bergdahls soon, and will speak with the soldier at the appropriate time, so as not to interfere with his health care needs.
“I am particularly happy for the family. What they have had to endure, how they’ve endured it - it’s been remarkable. They have not been bitter. They have adjusted, they never lost hope and faith,” Hagel said.
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