greatest achievements as a pilot in the cockpit. there you have it. that's all we have for this newshour. i'm tony harris in new york city. "inside story" is next on al jazeera america. >> in europe, the president has been explaining and defending the decision to release five taliban prisoners from guantanamo bay in return. that's the "inside story."

hello, i'm ray suarez. by the accounts of men in his unit. and after a report prepared by the army, it's cia to say that bowe bergdahl walked off his post. now he's in a prisoner exchange. some of his army comrades complain that bergdahl is a deserter and not a hero. and some are saying that president obama is negotiating with terrorists. karzai complained that he was kept out of the loop. some of those, depending on your persuasion, are unrepentant terrorists, or combatants on the side of the war, or the u.s.

bergdahl's parents spent years trying to keep their son's plate in the news, and they're happy, but like everything, it's complicated. with captain america comes an undertow of controversy. >> we don't leave our men or women in uniform behind. >> president obama forcefully answered critics on how he released sergeant bowe bergdahl. he spoke in a trip to poland on tuesday. >> this is what happens at the end of waters. you try to make sure that you get your folks back. and that's the right thing to do. >> i came to afghanistan in 2009. >> bergdahl was the only u.s. prisoner of war from the afghanistan complicate and he was held by the taliban for nearly five years. in exchange for the american soldier, five senior taliban officials, imprisoned at guantanamo bay, were released. the government of cutter helped to broker the deal. >> we saw an opportunity, and we

were concerned about sergeant bergdahl's health. we had the cooperation of the qataris, to execute the exchange, and we seized that opportunity. and the process was trunkated because we wanted to make sure that we did not miss that window. >> some members of congress said that they were not consulted, and the process involved releasing the gitmo detains a without their consent. they must give 30 days notice before any gitmo detainees were released. asked about the assertion that congress windows alerted to the deal, the republican vice chair on the senate intelligence committee said --. >> the white house was wrong about that. >> i've had this for a year and a half, and if that's keeping us in the loop, the administration

is more arrogant than we thought they were. a very dangerous precedent has been set by this administration, it's negotiating with terrorists, number one, and being very callous with the way that we release prisoners from guantanamo bay. >> they told them about it a mere five hours beforehand. the president defended his decision to give the congress the late heads up because it was the only way to guarantee their to be. we still get an american soldier back. period. >> wanted five former prisoners are now in the cutter chapter, doha, and they cannot leave the country for one year. their roles ranged from the minister of intelligence to senior military demander.

they were all labeled dangerous by the pentagon and not recommended for release. >> these five individuals are be low level, run of the mill ter rests, these are the guys they insighted riots that killed not hundreds, but thousands of people, including americans. >> they all played major roles in the pre-9-1-1 taliban, with one having direct ties to osama bin laden. >> we will be keeping our eyes to them. is there the possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are departmental to us? absolutely. that has been true of all of the prisoners that were released from guantanemo. there's a certain recidivism that takes place. i wouldn't be doing it if i

thought it was contrary to international security. and we will be in a position to go after them, if they are engaging in activities and threatening our defenses. >> sergeant bergdahl is recovering at hospital and is reported it be in good condition. his parents have not had a chance to see him yet. >> i'm so looking forward to seeing your face after these 5 and a half long years, and giving you a big bear hug and holding you in my arms again, never wanting to let i go. >> however, questions remain about bergdahl's unit. saying that the night he disappeared, he wondered off iw. >> he desert only the army, but my platoon and company to clean up his mess. >> at the times, he had started

teaching himself hushdo. and started communicating with his parents. in one, he wrote, i'm sorry for everything here's. these people feet hep is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they're nothing, stupid, and they have no idea how to little. in the general chief's apparently, martin dempsey, we learn the facts, and like any american, he's innocent until proven guilty and the army leaders won't turn away from misconduct. it's not clear when he returns to the u.s., but when he does, his hometown, haley, idaho, will be waiting. >> bergdahl has been getting his

regular promotions, he will return to his hometown as a sergeant. many are concerned about the deal that freed the american soldier, and we'll try to answer as many as we can at this time on "inside story," joining us to discuss the deal are michael, senior program associate for south asia, the wilson center, and omar, at the new american foundation, he was afghanistan's ambassador to france from 2009 to 2011. and horace cooper, a fellow with the national center for policy research and think tank. michael, you heard the president say, this is what happens at the end of wars. it's not quite over. we didn't have a va day the way we had a vj and ve day. are we still fighting?

>> we are, but the combat roll is going to be ending at the end of the year. i think that president obama realized that he had the opportunity to bring the sole remaining pow back from afghanistan, and give the u.s. the great majority of its troops by the end of the year. why would you want to leave behind the only pow. and i think it's the right thing to do. >> hopas cooper, wha what do yo? >> hand fisted, president obama talked about him as engaging in the amateur hour. this was not done in the right way. i'm not sure that i would agree with t but i'm positive that this process has not gone right. >> what part of it. >> one, there should have been at least some intent to find at least a lindsey graham to go

along with the idea of making a trade. there ought to have been somebody to say, i want you to sign-off on some of the decisions being made. when this comes out, of course it's not going to be popular, but at least we can say that cyrus adult attention took place, instead of people making charges that a law was violented, and even wildly saying it's the kind of thing that could lead to an impeachment charge. that shows that it wasn't done properly. and the decision wasn't well taken. >> mr. a ambassador. was president karzai karzai, --, the president has his own axe to

gripped, not only with the obama administration, but the peace process, which is complex, and hasn't made any head ways, and he has wanted all the time to be involved. and to be part of any initiatives that are being taken in regards to that. not that this particular issue is related yet. but we don't know if this is going to move toward opening up dialogue between the taliban and the u.s. but at the end of the day, these individual, their names are known for afghans for at least 15 years or so. and most of them, if not all, are notorious, and they have been known to be war criminals. so for them, they're terrorists

for afghans, and they want to know how we deal with terrorists. >> we're going to take a break. and when we come back, we'll talk about the deal that's bringing sergeant bowe bergdahl back to the united states. this is "inside story", and stay with us.

>> welcome back to "inside story," i'm ray suarez. on this edition of the program, we're discussing the deal with

the taliban that led to the release of sergeant bowe bergdahl in afghanistan. president obama said this is what happens at the end of wars, and in this case, the details are complicated and controversial. horace cooper, it sounds like a lot of your objections were politics realed. did we need to get bowe bergdahl home one wayeor the other? >> i'm sympathetic to not leafing any soldiers behind, and i'm sympathetic to that. but how do than you do that? we have no healthy conversation with karzai, and we need opportunities like this to build on that relationship, and not to show that we have no regard for it. and two, we have a loss for a reason. president obama said that he wants to close guantanamo bay

down, and he has not been successful in getting that. and there's a reason, there's a law that requires this transfer. and he can't ignore that. three, he pledged that he was going to wind the wars down, whether we were finished with them or not. and it's incumbent on him to decide how we make the public prepared to accept this transition. this was bankrupt and hand fisted. >> michael, is this a back doorway of closing down guantanemo? >> no. i don't think so. >> because there are more men there roughly in this condition. not tried, not charged, expected of being really bad guys, and we to the know what to do with them. and their home countries don't want them. >> president obama has been trying to close it down, but i think this is a one-time case, where president obama saw an opportunity to bring home this p.o.w., and i think that now,

given that there was a precedent said, those who would want to close down guantanemo, will be more firm and pose more challenges and make it more difficult for this being any step toward closing or not closing the base as well. >> and sergeant, you heard the sergeant refer to them as terrorists, and you referred to them as terrorists, but is there a risk making it worse. it was the government of afghanistan before the united states invasion, and some of these men, while hand in glove with aljazeera, some of them were not. they weren't necessarily guys who are not figuring out how to blow up vehicles or blow up civilian centers, or that kind

of thing. thing. they are different from each other, aren't they? >> it depends on who you are talking about. but there are some who may have a certain vision, and i'm not exact sure. the people haven't been able to figure out what the vision is, except imposing their will on others. but thighs individuals have more entities. on the battlefield, some of them have committed atrocities. i was listening to afghan media today, they were questioning people on the streets, places where they have served. these are commanders who have alleged to have massacred hundreds, if not thousands of innocent civilians. so we need to be very careful. i think that we need to -- at the same time, nobody is against

releasing individuals in due time when it's appropriate. and nobody is against the peace process. afghan's want a peace process, but the question is are they going to help or hinder it. >> is there a risk for using terrorists as a synonym for people i don't like, i despied, find odious, people who have done bad things in the course of civil wars. that was a nasty regime, but it's not al qaeda. >> these individuals have worked with al qaeda, they have worked with bin laden personally. and this is why afghans are a bit concerned, by the fact that if we are going to leave these individuals, and if they end up if not now, or a year, on the

battlefield, killing more of us, and killing more americans, who is going to answer for it? >> i think that the president set up some of the problem. which created a false impression for guantanemo is a place where a wide variety of people are rounded up. you have to be the worst of the worst to be eligible. we have a lot of prisons around the globe that we can put people in that is not guantanamo bay. >> also, are there people that we don't know what to do with? if their own cles would take them back, we would release they them? >> there are allies that hold people that are not the kind of national security threat that our armed services have manifest, we don't have in the

case of these five political protesters, but people with blood on their hands, and how you deal with those people is an important process with afghanistan, engaging them in saying, you need to be part of this process. if we delete afghanistan out, it makes it feel like a lot of what mr. bergdahl said, wee don't care, we're -- the president's actions install that. >> some who have been released from guantanemo in the past have returned to the battlefield. is that a problem for the obama administration? sort of a slow burning fuse that a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, one of these five could do something pretty bad? >> according to the agreement, they're in cutter, and they need to be there for a year.

but there's concern, the people in the taliban, that they will start getting involved in propaganda efforts right away, and perhaps contribute to operational efforts. so absolutely, there's a concern. and it's true, taliban is an ideological members, that wouldn't have the interest in going back and join the fight. these are the types that would enjoy the peace process, but i think unfortunately, these five detainees represent the worst of the worst. and i do fear that they will try to join in the fight after the next year when they're allowed to leave cu cutter. >> maybe you read some of the early stories, and found out they're a middle man and what's going there? what do i need to know? this is "inside story."

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>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. during his current trip to europe, the president strongly defendanted his decision to swap five taliban detainees from guantanemo for sergeant bowe bergdahl, held captive in afghanistan for five years. it was brokered by qatar, and it's known as a home for berthing rights for the american fleet. and home to a future world cup if they follow soccer, but how did they go there for at least a year? >> a couple of reasons. one, qatar, a very rich gulf country, has been using it's wealth and prominence in trying to show that it's diplomatically viable and acting as a mediator between different bodies, not only in afghanistan, but the

other middle eastern conflicts. they're the ones who brokered the peace between hamas and the palestinian authority. they have been playing a role in afghanistan in the last two years when the taliban were allowed to open an office in qatar, and they hosted this office. and then it turned into a controversy, with the whole process of talking to the taliban was put on hold until now. this time, they realized with the americans that there's an opportunity to release the five in exchange for one american soldier, and they took that road. this taliban office is going to be here from now on, with the five individuals joining the rest. >> clearly, that's part of an

overall approach toward raising their global profile. does that give them a big investment in making sure that this deal works? >> well, for sure. as we have heard, qatar has been involved in various efforts to mediate with the taliban. but at the end of the day, i don't think we should overstate the significance of what's happening with this deal. i don't think that we should suggest that things are going to happen for the taliban to turn to a peace process for a variety of reasons. the taliban office that opened in qatar last year, it closed soon afterwards after a dispute, after it was treated like a foreign embassy. and the taliban is a very divided organization. we don't know if they are ready in peace. some are, and others are not.

with so many american troops leaving afghanistan, taliban may not have an incentive to join the peace process, because they can do damage. >> wait and see, some things may bear fruit. >> sure, and i want to answer your earlier question, the presence on the world staple sti think it's an opportunity for independent voices to come forward, and represent a more constructive ability for the west and the east to all cooperate. the issue again is how this particular arraignment came about. i have no hostility or criticism of qatar. i am more concerned about the fact that even three years ago, when this very same concept was presented, our armed services leadership overwhelmingly rejected the idea of these five

peopling part of that process. now, here's what i ask. having successfully negotiated this, but watching the president and his administration fail to have a healthy embrace of the outcome with the american people, how interested will people like the qataris be, with doing something similar? what happens when you want the indonesian government. and you want other leaders to step on the world stage to negotiate. >> let me get a quick response from the only diplomat on the panel. >> i think that countries do what they consider doable there and then. i think that qatar has wanted for a long time to raise their role diplomatically speaking, and this was an opportunity. so they went along, and i'm sure

that the american government is grateful for that. for us afghans, what remains to be seen, what does qatar do? and will this translate into something more constructive down the road? >> ambassador, good to see you all. that brings us to the end of this edition of "inside story." thanks for being with us, in washington, i'm ray suarez.

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