released and now in the air en route to qatar. we just heard from the white house. they told us to expect president obama to speak from the rose garden about the release of bowe bergdahl at 6:15 eastern time. in the meantime, the people closest to bowe bergdahl never gave up hope that he would someday come home. here is cnn's jake tapper. >> get me! release me, please! i'm begging you! bring me home, please? bring me home. >> reporter: that is bowe bergdahl the only member of the u.s. military in enemy captivity. he had just turned 27 but four years of his short life have been spent in captivity held by a group loosely affiliated with the afghan taliban.

the idaho native was captured after two months on the battlefield in afghanistan. since his capture only a few videos have proved he has been captured. bowe's father appealed directly to his son's captors in this youtube video. >> i personal appeal to general ha kwanny and we are counting on your professional integrity and honor to return the safe return of our son. >> reporter: in that video, robert sports a long beard and had learned arabic to better communicate with the taliban. >> they had become frustrated by the u.s. government. they felt the government was foot dragging and decided to speak out themselves. >> reporter: an e-mails to his family obtained by the late michael hastings and published by "rolling stone" magazine,

bergdahl made clear his disillusionment of the war. he wrote the following to his parents in his final e-mail home. >> his first letters home, e-mails home were very positive but then he said he became the e-mails became much darker. his son seemed to feel that the military was not this peace corps with guns ideal had he held. >> reporter: but this family received a different kind of letter believed to be from their son. delivered by other red cross. >> that brings newfound hope. that's like sitting around the camp fire that is going out and, all of a sudden, you find that one more log. >> we have a team of reporters working on this story for you. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr and cnn international correspondent nick rober -- nic robertson. >> what we have been understanding from talking to

military and defense officials all day long is it was in the last week that this plan with the taliban basically came together. bergdahl in return for five detainees from guantanamo bay being released back to qatar. qatar would take responsibility for them. that is what the taliban wanted and for that they would return bowe bergdal. u.s. forces got the wored where to go along the border in afghanistan to pick him up and did that earlier today. it went very peaceful and quickly but there was plenty of concern about security. we know other u.s. forces were standing by ready to move in if things went wrong. but they did not, thankfully. we are told that bergdahl walked to the helicopter. he was able to walk. that he spoke to the u.s. troops that came to rescue him. i want to tell you that we have some video here now. you are seeing mr. and mrs.

bergdahl, his parents, obviously, surrounded by security and walking to the white house just a short time ago. this is exclusive cnn video. we were the only ones there to record it. walking to the white house. we expect them, robert and jenny bergdahl to be standing with president obama when he makes his statement. aaron mcpike will have much more on that. they are moving in the coming house to perhaps landstuhl medical center in germany for further medical checks but the whole idea, is now get him back home to his family as quick as possible. >> nic in terms of this negotiation there was, obviously, a trade here to get bowe bergdahl save. does it signal a change in american policy about no negotiations to you? >> reporter: it's going to raise questions for some people who are not familiar with this. the united states is not the first people to do this.

this is standard operation procedure for the taliban to tape prisoners and change them for their own prisoners who are being held captive. they do this with the pakistani authorities. a former deputy head of defense and a former deputy head of intelligence, a former governor of two different provinces. these significant taliban players or were significant taliban players. we understand from u.s. authorities that they did not have connections with al qaeda. if that had been the case, that, of course, would have made it much harder to contemplate their release. the fact they are being released to qatari authorities and under their care for watch is again an indication no one is trusting the taliban here but this was a deal that was felt the only way to bring about bowe bergdahl's release. >> barbara, certainly a lot of people celebrating the fact that

he will be coming home and he is safe now. but you can't ignore the fact that there are questions surrounding his whole capture back in 2009. i mean, the fact that he -- it sounds like he likely voluntarily walked away from his group. could he face any ramifications when he does get home for this? >> reporter: this is a very delicate situation, especially on a day like this, of course, when the president is standing next to his parents to announce the return of this soldier, but the facts are we don't know exactly what did happen to bowe bergdahl because we have never heard from him directly with no duress about what actually transpired. the word has always been, he, for some reason, walked away from his station, from his base in eastern afghanistan. perhaps personal problems. we do not nope the military needs to hear from bowe bergdahl directly what led him to walk away.

he may not -- i've talked to people about this in the military. there's nothing that says he will face criminal charges, nothing that says there will be some sort of mandatory criminal proceeding against him. by all accounts, he was absent without leave. whether it sdgoes as far as desertion, we don't know. the military will have to provide how wants to proceed but i have to tell you, speaking over the last several months to many senior military officials, they know it's delicate and know other troops have a lot of questions about this but there is a very deep feeling that perhaps bowe bergdahl suffered enough by being in captivity for five years and we will have to see what decisions are made about his future. >> i bet a lot of people will say that for sure. thank you both. around the world more than two dozen other americans are being held prisoner in

questionable circumstances. at least 27 u.s. citizens are either being held by extremist groups or sitting in jail in countries that had hostile to america. among them, robert levinson, retired fbi agent who disappeared in iran almost seven years ago. his captors sent pictures to his family. allen gross is a u.s. government employee in jail in cuba. several u.s. officials including former president jimmy carter have pleaded for his release. so far, zero success. 72-year-old warren weinstein was working assess a government contractoror in pakistan in 2011 when he was grabbed from his home and he has been held hostage by al qaeda ever since. kenneth bae was held in north korea in 2012. he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly committing hostile acts against the state. joining us now cnn national security analyst and former cia operative bob bair. hello to you, bob.

lots to discuss here. the u.s. was negotiating a release of bowe bergdahl for months. is the u.s. actively pursuing the release of any of those citizens we mentioned too or is it different because bergdahl is military? >> no. in all cases, there are back channels. either directly or through intermediaries trying to get these people out. you take levinson that is the more difficult one. the fbi, unfortunately, believes he has died and probably not get him back. as far as cuba, we have a back channel to cuba and we are talking to cuba all the time. i can't call it negotiations. the aid contractor taken in pakistan and lahore is held in al qaeda and much more difficult so all of these situations are different and unfortunately it takes time to get through these negotiations. >> we are not talking about people who have gone through legitimate proceedings for

alleged crimes committed overseas. we are talking about men and women who are hostages and held for obvious political reasons. can you explain the distinction? >> well, i think in afghanistan, what we're seeing now is the end game to this war, the haqqani group which supposedly held him is fairly moderate. we have two channels to the haqqani group and talking to them for years and that is pakistan and qatar. a lot easier for the state department to work this. cuba should have been easier to this and i can't explain to you why he hasn't been released and as far as kenneth brkae that is not rational so it's all different problems. >> help us understand how this works. since the u.s. government doesn't negotiate with extremist groups, what happens when an american is kidnapped and a demand is made? what goes on? >> well, it depends on the group. al qaeda is the most difficult.

i mean, we simply -- that is a clear-cut terrorist group we can no way have any direct contact with it. we can go to government of pakistan. they will say they will do their best. what they actually do is something different. the haqqani network is the taliban in a sense, an umbrella group. by the way, that's a group the cia worked with in the '80s. we know people in that group and our estimate is they are fairly rational and easy to deal with. it's the crazy like north korea and al qaeda where we run into the problems. >> bob, appreciate your expertise as always. thank you very much. we want to remind our viewers, it's 11 minutes past the hour. at about 6:15, we are expecting the president to speak from the white house rose garden. you see the microphone is right there. he will be joined by bowe bergdahl's parents as you saw cnn's exclusive video of them coming in. we will have that for you after this break.

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along with bowe bergdahl's parents. they arrived in the white house the last hour or so. bowe bergdahl is still in afghanistan but at some point we understand he is being brought back to the united states in a treatment in a san antonio medical facility where we expect he will be reunited with his parents who you will see here. >> this is the cnn exclusive video there that we have of bowbergdahl's parents arriving there at the white house to join the president in the rose garden. as we wait for him, erin, we may need to interrupt you if he does come out. very quickly, talk a little bit about the controversy about this whole trade a that was made to bring bowe bergdahl home? >> reporter: of course, there was an exchange. bowe bergdahl was released for the five detainees at guantanamo bay. and back to afghanistan. president obama, i believe is coming out so i'm going to step

aside. >> yes. there is the president walking out. he is going to be speaking bowe bergdahl. >> this morning i called bob and jenny bergdahl and told them after nearly five years in captivity, their son bowe is coming home. sergeant bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends which all of us take for granted. but while bowe was gone, he was never forgotten. his parents thought about him and prayed for him every single day. as did his sister skye who prayed for his safe return. he wasn't forgotten by his community in idaho or the military which rallied -- he wasn't forgotten by his country. because the united states of america does not ever leave our

military men and women in uniform behind. as commander in chief i am proud of the service members who recovered sergeant bergdahl. they performed with extraordinary courage and professionalism and made their nation proud. right now our top priority is making sure bowe gets the care and support that he needs and that he can be reunited with his family as soon as possible. i'm also grateful for the tireless work of our diplomats and the cooperation of the government of qatar in helping to secure bowe's release. we have worked for several years to achieve this goal and earlier this week i was able to personally thank the emir of qatar for his leadership in helping us get it done. as part of this effort, the u.s. is transferring five detainees from the prison in guantanamo bay to qatar. the qatari government has given us assurances it will put into

place measures to protect our national security. i also want to express gratitude to the afghan government which has always support our efforts to secure bowe's release. going forward the united states will continue to support and afghan led process of reconciliation which could help secure a hard-earned peace within a sovereign and unified afghanistan. as i said earlier this week, we are committed to winding down the war in afghanistan and we are committed to closing gitmo. but we also made an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home. that is who we are as americans. it's a profound obligation within our military and, today, at least in this instance, it's a promise we have been able to keep. i am mindful, though, that there are many troops who remain missing in the past. that's why we are never going to forget and we are never going to give up our search for service

members who remain unaccounted for on. we also remain deeply committed to securing the release of american citizens who are unjustly obtained abroad and deserve to be reunited with their families just like the bergdahl's soon will be. bob and jenny, today, families across america share in the joy that i know you feel. as a parent, i can't imagine the hardship that you guys have gone through. as president, i know that i speak for all americans when i say we cannot wait for the moment when you're reunited and your son bowe is back in your arms. so with that, i'd like bob to have an opportunity to say something and jan, if she would like as well. >> i just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported bowe. he's had a wonderful team

everywhere. we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. thank you. >> i'd like to say to bowe right now who is having trouble speaking english. [ speaking in foreign language ] i'm your father, bowe. to people of afghanistan, the same. [ speaking in foreign language ] the complicated nature of this recovery was -- will never be comprehended. to each and every single one who affected this in this country, in the service branches, at the state department, throughout the whole of american government, and around the world, international governments around the world, thank you so much. we just can't communicate the words this morning when heard from the president.

so we looked forward to continuing the recovery of our son which is going to be a considerable task for our family and we hope that the media will understa understand, will keep us very preoccupied in the coming days and weeks as he gets back home to the united states. thank you all for being here very much. >> thank you. wonderful. >> thank you. >> a good day. >> yes, it's a good day. >> and there you have it. a very emotional moment. a very personal moment there between the president and bob and jenny, the parents of bowe bergdahl certainly celebrating his return at some point. they will welcome him back into their home back to the united states, but certainly very

thankful today. let's talk this over what we just witnessed there with barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent and bob baer, cnn national correspondent and nic robertson is joining us as well. barbara, let me ask you first. we have followed this case since he disappeared in 2009. we have seen the various proof of life pictures and videos. what do you make of that moment there in the rose garden with the president? >> well, i thought there were a couple of extremely interesting references perhaps giving us a little bit of an indication of what the bergdahl's may know about their son's condition at the moment. it seems to me that mr. bergdahl, bob bergdahl was probably speaking a few sentences there in pashtu but i'll have bob or nic correct me on that. we know he was learning and phrases to better communicate with his son's captors and

suggesting also there that he thought maybe bowe was going to have trouble speaking english again, perhaps after so many years in captivity, bowe bergdahl had basically started speaking pashtu or some local kang to his captors and his mother and father making references to this being a long recovery ahead. not just physically getting bowe bergdahl back to his family but af fi after five years in captivity and repatriating him to the united states out of miserable conditions in afghanistan and pakistan and rural tough mountain areas with enemy forces that would have killed him back to safety. this is a long and complicated process. both of his parents referring to that and asking for privacy from the media, saying that this

would now, of course, be their focus to get bowe all the way back home. so i thought that was pretty interesting. >> it certainly was. let's check in with erin mcpike who was there in the rose garden at the white house. erin, what did you pick up there in the rose garden that maybe we didn't? >> reporter: obviously, it was very emotional and the bergdahl parents, obviously, hesitated a little bit because this has certainly been an emotional day for them, really an emotional process for them. the president as well. of course, he also expressed some gratitude for the qataris for their assistance in sort of negotiating this along too. we don't want to forget that point as well. randi? >> erin, thank you very much. we want to talk this over more with our panel. everybody, please stick around and we will be right back after this very quick break. keep it here on cnn. 4 deliciouh sweet, succulent maine lobster starting at just $15.99!

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we are continuing to follow this breaking news coverage of bowe bergdahl, a u.s. army sergeant, now in the hands of the united states. they picked him up and he is on safe ground. we wanted to continue to talk this over with our folks who are on our panel. we are bob baer who is a cnn security analyst and former cia operative and nic robertson or international correspondent and barbara starr with us from the pentagon. bob, let me start with you on this. i want to replay some of the sound from bob and jani bergdahl who were in the rose garden with the president. i want to listen to that one more time and ask you questions about that. >> i just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported bowe. he has had a with wonderful team everywhere.

we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. thank you. >> i'd like to say to bowe right now who is having trouble speaking english. [ speaking in foreign language ] i'm your father, bowe. to people of afghanistan, the same. [ speaking in foreign language ] the complicated nature of this really be comprehended. to each and every single one who affected this in this country, in the service branches, at the state department, throughout the whole of american government, and around the world, international governments around the world, thank you so much. we just can't communicate the words this morning when heard from the president.

so we looked forward to continuing the recovery of our son which is going to be a considerable task for our family and we hope that the media will understand that will keep us very preoccupied in the coming days and weeks as he gets back home to the united states. thank you all for being here very much. >> there he is. he has grown this beard, bowe father there with that beard. he is also speaking to him in as barbara had said before the break, possibly in pashtun. what do you make of that? is that -- what does that say about what bowe bergdahl has been through over these years? >> well, what it tells me, first of all, the father said in the name of the compassionate and i'm your father that is dari but that would be a common

suppression in afghanistan and what tells me that they spent a lot of time in afghanistan, probably qatar, talking to local officials, convincing them of the justice of this act and that he shouldn't be held. so, i mean, i think we really have to think a lot of our allies in the gulf and in afghanistan. so i think this was a multiple effort of a lot of people. and i think the family clearly were very engaged in this. >> nic, does it concern you at all his father is there saying he probably hasn't spoken much english or was that a means of survival for him? >> i think the human will to survive and the survival instinct and everything we have heard from people who have been held captive before, it is instinctive to, after time, to try to make friends with your captors, to try to make your situation better, to try and find the one who will give you the better food and who will let you out of the room and go to the bathroom when you want to go and not when they want to let you out of the room. all of those sorts of things. so the fact that he will very

likely have communicated in their language will have tried to grow to understand them, to play on their sympathies and presils the same way that his father is doing by growing his beard, by speaking in a language that the captors, bowe's captors have understand. this is his effort to try to connect with bowe captors. bowe 11:will have been doing th five years on the ground. it will take a long time to put that back together and is a what we have remembered from so many people held captived. if anyone ever recovers to back where they were before, if you will, that kind of incarceration and a group of people we don't know what was happening on a day-to-day basis. was he being threatened with execution every week before he made the videos? we just don't know these things. extreme pressure, long-term psychological wearing down for

him. >> you can certainly see, barbara, that very emotional moment for the parents there. they are, obviously, and with good reason very concerned about their son and his well-being. what do you know about how he is doing at this point? >> reporter: well, what we know is after the commandos picked him up on the border, they flew him immediately to a small so-called forward operating base fairly close by in eastern afghanistan where he got some initial critical medical check to make sure he was okay. okay enough to move on. then he went by aircraft to bagram air base in afghanistan. this is the large u.s. military facility north of kabul. there is a complete military hospital there for both routine and critical care. he is at bagram tonight, we are told, still getting medical treatment, meeting with a repatriation team and experts

and helping through this process. the belief -- the understanding we have within the coming hours perhaps, if he is cleared by that medical team, he will move on to landstuhl regional medical center in jegermany. a facility that specialize is in repatriation. not sure how long he will spend there. depends on his medical condition. then they will try to get him back to the united states as quickly as possible. the game plan, at this point, is take him to san antonio, texas, to brook army medical center, again, a major military medical facility. he can there get all of the privacy and medical care he needs there. >> barbara, bob, nic, stay with us and erin mcpike is joining us as well. we will continue to have much more on this when we continue this conversation after a very quick break and we will join you on the other side. dentures are very different to real teeth.

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welcome back. we are joined by our panel. we want to continue to talk about bowe bergdahl, the u.s. sergeant who was picked up today by commandos. erin, let me start with you. a lot of talk and a lot of controversies, even though this is a day of celebration for the families who know and love bowe

bergdahl but controversy surrounding the fact there was exchange made for prisoners from guantanamo prison. can you bring us up-to-speed what they are saying about this controversy right now? >> absolutely. we got a memo from john mccain said while he is thrilled that bowe bergdahl is safe he is eager to know from the white house exactly how this exchange went down. then we got a much stronger statement from house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers, a republican, who -- a very important voice on this as well, and he said, i am extremely troubled that the united states negotiated with terrorists and agreed to swap five senior taliban leaders who are responsible for the deaths of many americans. he went on to say that is a fundamental shift in u.s. policy and it signals to terrorists around the world a greater incentive to take u.s. hostages. obviously, that was not

something that president obama was going to address in the rose garden this afternoon when he was there with bowe bergdahl's parents but i am certain it's something that is going to come up for him again and again and something he will have to address, especially at this time when he is drawing down troops in afghanistan and talking a lot more about his foreign policy. >> erin, thank you. nic, what do you know about these detainees that were part of the exchange? >> they were relatively senior taliban figures. one a former interior minister and one a former deputy defense minister and another one head of intelligence and another had been a governor in at least two different afghan provinces. the taliban, prior to 9/11, were fighting a control for afghanistan. taliban commanders and their military were at the forefront of doing that on the battlefield or making it happen with money.

what we do understand about these five men is they are not believed to have strong or al qaeda links, that these were people picked up pretty much soon after september 11th attacks. but what do we know about their intentions now? that is not clear. i know two senior taliban figures who have been released from guantanamo bay in the past. one, the former foreign minister, the other the former ambassador to pakistan who was a senior, one of the original taliban leaders, if you will. both of these men returned to civilian life living in kabul. they both told me they didn't want to end up back in guantanamo bay again. what were they doing behind the scenes? we don't really know, but they did seem to lead peaceful lives. will these other five men do that? that's a question and a responsibility now that lies with the qataris who said they are going to manage following them, are going to manage what

they do while they are in qatar. >> bob, what do you make that have? how comfortable are you with these detainees being released and the assurances from the qatari government that they will keep an eye on them? >> well, i don't trust qatar, but i think the point is these five detainees weren't directly involved in what i would describe as terrorism. they weren't part of al qaeda. they had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. as nic said they were policed up after we moved into the country. describing them as terrorists i don't think is completely accurate. we are in a gray area here and it is possible that one or two of them or maybe all of them will show back up in afghanistan, but keep in mind that this war is winding down. we have to keep in mind in the context of this release that bowe bergdahl the drone attacks have tapered off completely. this thing is going away and we are going to get some sort of settlement and i think we are

just going to have to start talking to the taliban whether we like it or not. >> nic, to you. i'm curious about the location because cnn was able to confirm today that bowe bergdahl had moved between pakistan and afghanistan was likely in afghanistan for most of these five years that he's been missing and had been taken. what do you know about those areas? >> well, probably most likely he was held in north waziristan. much of it is a no-go area for the pakistani military and no-go area certainly for u.s. forces. only drone strikes were really able to penetrate that area. the haqqani network was believed to have been holding him, certainly they had training camps and al qaeda training camps in that area have been targeted to the point they have only been able to establish themselves in small bases. a local reporters who i was working with last year in pakistan had been to one of

those training camps an it was literally training a tiny handful of taliban militants. there was another al qaeda camp nearby. small compounds is typical and those may have been inside any one of those war compounds in that area that bowe bergdahl was being held. an area that the government force, afghan, pakistan, u.s. couldn't get into readily and certainly would have been potentially a high casualty rate had they tried to do it, not only that, inside pakistan, very hard for the u.s. to actually physically go in there. so that is, obviously, it seems why he was moved to the border for this transfer. >> certainly a lot of challenges there. nic, bob, erin, thank you all very much. appreciate it. coming up my next guest was kidnapped by terrorists also and making him one of tvery few peo who can relate to bowe bergdahl. mike boettcher joins me live right after this.

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back to our developing story right now. the only u.s. military member still held captive from the wars in iraq and afghanistan now in u.s. custody. army sergeant bowe bergdahl a was captured by the taliban in 2009 and now he has been freed. special forces picked him up at 10:30 a.m. eastern time from his captainors in afghanistan. in change as for forhis release the u.s. handed over five detainees from guantanamo bay, cuba. bergdahl is at a u.s. forwarding operating base in afghanistan. his family hours ago learned he was free and appeared this hour at the white house with president obama. the qatari government actually helped broker that deal. we know sergeant bowe bergdahl is free and coming home but the mystery surrounding his capture five years ago lingers. former cnn war correspondent mike boettcher is joining me from oklahoma city. nice to see you, mike. there is still debate over what

led to sergeant bergdahl's disappearance and capture. you have been wrem bedded with units in afghanistan. what do you think happened? >> well, it wasn't an organized operation by the taliban. that much is clear. i was in that region of the country in 2009, 2010, 2011 in paktiki province and it is clear that he left the base, but other than that, it's hard to say what happened, what the motivation w was, why he was outside the wires soledad o'brien speak. all i know is that every unit in that area was on alert for that entire time looking for him, although it was assumed that he was across the border in pakistan and near waziristan. >> regardless of whether something else happened or the first concern is getting him back safely. you were captured in el salvador

and threatened with your life nearly 30 years. how did you survive? i know every situation is difference, but give us an idea what you think sergeant bergdahl might have been going through. >> well, the first thing i did was -- was try to gain my composure because everything happens just like that. this happened at a busy intersection. i was in a van with my driver. a man walked up with a gun, put it on my head. another one put it to the driver's head and someone came behind me in the back of the van and put a gun to my head. i determined that my best way to survive was to do what they told me to do initially and not to do anything that upset them. i then, you know, tried to make friends with them. they accused me of being an american spy, which happens to journalists all around the world. and so i told them i'm a report reporter, you know. i am just a simple reporter out

here and i'd like to live. tell me what your problem is with me. and, you know, i followed orders until the end when they, you know, after many hours of this, they told me to get on my knees, took me to the back side of the el salvador volcano where they execute people and i refused to get on my knees. i knew at that time i had to be defy@at that time. it's a delicate line you walk when you are life is in somebody else's hands and you're pretty sure they are going to kill you. >> yeah. certainly some terrifying moments. mike, i know you're joining us at the top of the hour so it's nice to see you and we will talk with you again shortly here. anti-government protests in turkey has ta a surprising turn. a cnn correspondent is roughed up while is reporting live. we will play that for you coming up next. ...on its own. so it's time we do something about it. and there's help.

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let's talk more about sergeant bowe bergdahl's release and release of five detainees from guantanamo bay. good to see you guys. ben, bthe u.s. have been given ainsurances they say the men exchanged for bergdahl will not pose a threat to the united states and they won't be allowed to leave qatar for a year. do those assurances offer you any comfort? >> not at all. these are high level individuals that were so important that for five years the same men were on the list of what they wanted back in exchange for an

american, and this has changed our entire policy, almost 50 years a policy we do not negotiate with terrorists and that is exactly what just happened and that makes the life of an american around the world skyrocket and how important it is to al qaeda or anyone else because we just changed our policy, and these aren't low level guys. you don't get to guantanamo bay by accident and if the taliban wants you back and you're on their list, think about how important these guys are, obviously, to the taliban and what they want to publish. and this was a massive victory for them today and america just gave into the taliban and gave their top people back they wanted. that is scary. >> i strongly disagree here. >> let me tell you what senator john mccain said. he says he is concerned about these former detainees and house intelligence committee chairman saying this deal gives the terrorists an incentive to take more american hostages. why don't you respond to ben and i'd like your reaction to that

as well. >> it certainly is cause for concern. we should be asking questions about the nature of these negotiations but as we know we have been negotiating for well over a year on these very points, how many hostages would be released, how many rather prisoners would be released and what the terms of release would be. who would be the intermediary in the conversation. this is not something that went along quickly. the president as well as his cabinet have made very thoughtful decisions about this. i can't wait to get more information and the american people are entitled to that information. this is why i disagree with ben. was this not a victory for the taliban today. this was a victory for america. was this a victory -- >> it wasn't a defeat! >> this was a soldier who was a hostage and it was a victory for his family and we have to look at it in that way, i think. also as our national security adviser said or expert said just a few minutes ago, this is not a clear-cut case of talking to reimagine who the taliban are, number one. number two, we have to move into a place of negotiation and conversation, not merely this sort of hostile antagonistic gating we have had the last five

to ten years. >> i think the biggest difference these are the same people they have been wanting for five years. and they wanted them back badly. so to say that this isn't a victory for the taliban today, if it wasn't a victory for them, they wouldn't have made the deal. they gave away one american for five of their top people in their political organization. if that is not the definition of a victory, i don't know what is. a five for one trade is an incredible deal for five guys that were in guantanamo bay and the words of john mccain have american blood on their hands and this puts other american people around the world's lives at risk now with al qaeda and with the taliban because they know that america now will negotiate and if you've got another ten guys or five guys you want out, well, if you grab a couple of americans are we willing to play ball based on what we see today? we absolutely are. >> all right, guys. >> that's a very -- >> very quickly, mark. >> that is just -- it's just a very -- analysis. only one american in afghanistan

was captured and not -- not like the l.a. clippers making a bad trade here. >> sports analogy, really? >> who were significant. >> all right, mark, and ben, thank you both. thank you. >> thanks. hello, everyone. are in the "cnn newsroom." i'm randi kaye in for don lemon. president obama had two special guests with him in the white house rose garden the mother and father of army sergeant bowe bergdahl who had been held captive by the taliban nearly five years. today the president surprised them with the news their son was coming home. the deal was made, five terror suspects held in guantanamo bay, cuba, in change for sergeant bowe bergdahl. a few hours a u.s. special forces picked him up and he is safe at a base in afghanistan.

sergeant bergdahl has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with family and friends which all of us take for granted. but while bowe was gone, he was never forgotten. his parents thought about him and prayed for him every single day. >> we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. joining me is barbara starr and nic robertson and mike boettcher. good to see all of you. barbara, this means no longer american troops held captive from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. i would imagine there is some sense of celebration about that at the pentagon today? >> reporter: well, i think that everyone is very pleased, very happy that bowe bergdahl is finally out free and on his way home to his family. there is no question about that. this is a place where, you know,

lives by the motto, leave no one behind. they take it very seriously regardless of circumstances, everybody comes home. the president referred to that even about when he spoke about those still missing from previous conflicts, about americans, civilian americans being held overseas in a number of countries. the u.s. believes very unjustly. you know, the idea is that this should not happen to anybody. bergdahl's case, very delicate, however, very sensitive. we do not know what happened with this young man. almost five years ago, the word was that he walked out of his base in eastern afghanistan and was quickly kidnapped by the taliban. but nobody has ever heard from bowe bergdahl as a free man to tell the world what happened to him. certainly army officials are going to be talking to him in the coming hours, trying to get some idea of what did happen,

but right now, the real priority is to get him all of the medical care he needs and any counseling, any assistance, any repatriation assistance back into society and get him home to his family. >> nic, another side to bergdahl's release today. five men who were detained at guantanamo are freed as well. what do you know about the back story of how this exchange went down? >> reporter: we know the taliban have been demanding the release of these five people in guantanamo bay. they are five senior taliban figures. one of them was a former deputy defense minister and one a former interior minister and one a former deputy head of intelligence and another a governor of two different provinces under the taliban' not believed to have had connections with al qaeda but this is the way the taliban operates. it captures people and done this in pakistan and afghanistan.

so this is perhaps nothing new but it's been in the works for a couple of years. it stalled on a number of occasions but now with the help of qataris, the middle man building confidences on both sides making this happen, not direct talks, indirect talks, again, using the qatari middle man. it has worked this time and very many things could have gone wrong and fortunate this time it didn't. >> very fortunate. mike, you spent considerable time in afghanistan four documentary "hornets nest." you're familiar with that border between afghanistan and pakistan. is that a place you can hide a captive for five years yaeeasil? >> you can hide them in north waziristan province. the pakistani army doesn't even go there. as nic mentioned earlier there have been many al qaeda and taliban training bases there.

because of the u.s. drone program, the drone attacks in that area, that really killed a lot of top leadership in north waziristan from the haqqani network and you can describe that as taliban on steroids and they had to break up in smaller camps and he was like kept in one of those smaller camps and moved around. but along the frontier, the few u.s. soldiers we had along that area always had their eye but it was always suspected he was in northern waziristan. >> barbara, for the viewers might be just joining us, share with us if you would that moment you told us all about many earlier today about when bowe bergdahl was on that helicopter with the commandos and what happened. >> reporter: what we are told by several u.s. defense officials, they got him very quickly on to the helicopter.

military helicopters are very noisy. you can't really talk when you're aboard them. you use hand signals or write notes. apparently, we are told, bowe bergdahl wrote down on paper the initials f.f. with a question mark, meaning special forces, are you guys special forces? and the troops that had come to rescue him said, yes, we are, we have been looking for you. and, at that point, we are told that bowe bergdahl broke down. they take it here at the pentagon as a very good sign after all this simon if wrote down s.f. and still had the comprehension, the understanding, the memory to realize special forces and that it was most likely special forces that had come to get him in such dire circumstances, actually folks here take it as a good sign that he may be in a good place in understanding what

has happened to him. >> mike, i mean, i'd like to you react to that, because what is your read on that? you've been in his shoes. you were taken as well. >> you know, it's a traumatic experience. it's going to take a while to come back from that dark period. it took me a while to come back from it. you live each day in the hands of someone else. they feed you, they are the ones that give you shelter, and they are the ones who can decide if you're going to live or die. and then the stockholm syndrome develops where you start to identify with your captors. it's going to be a tough time for him to readjust, to come back and even speak english again which he probably hasn't been speaking much. and so he's going to need some of the best counseling that there is out there to re-enter into american society again. >> thank you all very much.

appreciate you weighing in on this and your expertise as well. thank you. don't go anywhere. bow bergdahl's former roommate will be joining me next. . the one who seems like he's already got the job 'cause he studied all the right courses from the get-go. e bergdahl's former roommate will be joining me next. a mom, a university of phoenix scholarship recipient, who used our unique --scratch that-- awesome career-planning tool. and that's a student, working late, with a day job, taking courses aligned with the industry he's aiming to be in. ready to build an education around the career that you want? let's get to work. hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection? yeah, we help with fraud protection. we monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. wow! you're really looking out for us. we are. and if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, you're never held responsible. just to be clear, you are saying "frog protection" right? yeah, fraud protection. frog protection. fraud protection. frog. fraud. fro-g. frau-d. i think we're on the same page. we're totally on the same page.

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it's our breaking news this hour. an american soldier held captive by the taliban for nearly five years is coming home. just a short time ago, president obama appeared with the mother and father of sergeant bowe bergat alber bergdahl. the president said it was an honor to break the news to bowe's parents that their son was coming home. a happy day at the rose garden and also a happy day in haleey, idaho, bowe's hometown. how do you know bowe and what did you make of the parents with the president?

>> amazing. amazing. we have all been dreaming about the day the president and they got together and made this announcement so it's just for everyone in town, it's such an incredible happy day. i met him a few years ago, he came in to the dance studio and decided he wanted to try to do ballet and became one of my very best students and after that, we became very close friends and, at one point, he needed a place to live, i needed a roommate and we were just the best of roommates and the best of friends. >> how much have you worried about him over these last five years? >> it's been immense! it's never out of your mind. you just kind of hope that every day, you get kind of good news. you know, the videos we got were always reassuring so that was always a nice positive something to put into our life that we were still seeing proof of life videos. but we always were just hoping for this day. we have been every day for five years. >> i want to go back to that moment where his parents spoke from the white house rose garden

and i want to ask you about that after this. >> where every. we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. thank you. >> i'd like to say to bowe right now who is having trouble speaking english. [ speaking in foreign language ] i'm your father, bowe. to people of afghanistan, the same. [ speaking in foreign language ] the complicated nature of this recovery was -- will never really be comprehended. to each and every single one who affected this in this country, in the service branches, at the state department, throughout the whole of american government, and around the world, international governments around the world, thank you so much.

we just can't communicate the words this morning when we heard from the president. so we looked forward to continuing the recovery of our son which is going to be a considerable task for our family and we hope that the media will understand that will keep us very preoccupied in the coming days and weeks as he gets back home to the united states. thank you all for being here very much. >> sherry, you know bowe and you know his family. how will they manage to get through this as a family unit? >> they are a very tight-knit family and have been that way for as long as i've known them. they have -- bowe was home-schooled growing up so he is very, very close to his parents through all of the home schooling and their vacations

and everything. they have been so strong throughout this entire ordeal. i know between what they are doing and they will -- they are going to survive this. with a close-knit community like we have here, everyone in the town is very supportive of them and they will get through fine. >> what is the plan for when he finally does return back to hailey? >> strangly enough, we had already -- every summer, is there a rally for bowe with thousands of motorcycle riders and it is scheduled for next weekend, and so we are very excited that instead of being an awareness rally it's now going to be a celebratory rally so we already have the plans in the making for a big party. >> a lot to celebrate for sure. sherry horton, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you very much. it was a devastating blow this week. news the pings detect in the southern indian ocean did not

come from malaysian flight 370 so was the search a waste and nearly three months later are we any closer to solving the mystery of the missing plane? our panel will talk it over next. [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. the versatile, 2015 subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. you've reached the age where you've learned a thing or two. this is the age of knowing what you're made of. so why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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back to square one. that is the devastating news this week on the search for malaysian flight 370. officials say they don't think the plane is the area of the southern indian ocean where water pings were picked up. has the last eleven weeks been a complete waste? cnn has more on what is next for missing flight 370. >> reporter: private contractors around the world are vying to take over the search for malaysia airline flight 370, preparing bids that could run into tens of millions of dollars. for a search that most likely won't resume for months. >> i think people are interested in getting the job because it's potentially profitable because it could be long duration. so certainly any company that put their equipment to work and keep it out there is probably

going to be successful. >> reporter: while the multinational investigative team may have cancelled its day-to-day search the chinese navy is continuing to map the ocean floor to get a head start to whatever private contractor takes over. 153 of the 239 passengers on board flight 370 were chinese. complicating matters, the bombshell revelation to cnn this week by one of the u.s. navy's top salvage experts who says the pings believed to be from the airplane's black boxes were likely not from the plane at all. >> if that black box were nearby, we would have picked it up on the imagery data. >> reporter: there is still disagreement about where the next phase of the search should go. some including australia's deputy prime minister believe contractors should move on from the area of the indian ocean where four pings were detected over the course of several days.

>> no signs of aircraft debris have been found. the area can now be discounted as the final resting place for mh 370. >> reporter: while others say at least some of the underwater pings must have come from the black boxes and the search area shouldn't be discounted just because the plane hasn't been found. >> you cannot reproduce this stuff. you can't reproduce it by -- by natural means or the earth isn't doing it, the ocean isn't doing it, the animals are not doing it. and their ship is not doing it. >> all right. so what now? let me bring in my panel to discuss all of this, jeff wise is a cnn aviation analyst and author. paul ginsburg is president of professional audio laboratories. welcome to all of you. paul, let me start with you on this one. if not the flight 370 pings,

what were they? >> well, it's hard to tell because what we get is sort of filtered information. we get -- we get information that changes, whether it's the altitude, the heading, the transcri transcript, the composite recordings that they finally gave us and now whether or not we have pings. >> were they man-made hthen? >> we want to be on the ship and observing them and make that decision. it's hard to tell from what we're hearing. it just changes every day. >> it certainly does. david, you say there is certainly much debate about the nature of the pings. why is that? >> in the beginning there was because we didn't have enough evidence and no one on the outside had the actual data to look at. all reading between the lines on what has been released. so i think that is very normal that there would be some debate about what those pings were in the beginning.

>> so i guess, jeff, what does this mean in terms of the crazy conspiracy theories that are out there? >> really two big mysteries involving mh 370. one, what happened to the plane and where did it go? the other big mystery why are the authorities behaving the way they are? i mean, we spent a month searching meticulously this stretch of ocean and spending tens of millions of dollars and now that the data finally gets released only after the fact they tell us the last two pings were even more different frequency. we don't know why they are behaving the way they are in and this inmarsat data released this week too and that is another big baffling mystery. we can't reach any conclusions based on what they are etelling us. >> dan, when it comes to the data, how much faith at this point -- they have released 47 pages or something like that of the data, but how much faith should we have in the credibility of the authorities at this point?

>> it's a good question. given the track record over the last three months, i don't see how you can have a lot of faith in it. you know, first and foremost, the families are the ones who are, you know, critically independence in getting the answers that they need and want, and they are, yet again, being kind of thrown on a false hope. you know, it's borderline cruel really to the families in that regard. >> yeah. i want to play this bit. i spoke earlier with clive and let's listen to what he had to say. >> i think they were enormous emotional pressure to raise hopes and raise expectations to get some chance they would find the wreckage pretty soon and, of course, that hasn't happened. i think one lesson from this is the politicians should keep out of situations like this. i think the australian prime minister when he said they were very close to finding the black boxes should nont have spoken

because he spoke with no real background information on that. >> jeff, do you agree with that? should he just have kept his mouth shut and not provided false hope? >> we don't know what he was told. we don't know what the analysis was based on. you know, we are just on the outside looking in and i think we are all equally baffled what is going on. >> it was never really explained why the frequencies were low. we never really got any answers. >> good night. what was the first translation? all right, all right, good night, which, obviously, did not appear on the radio. we have no idea why they are giving us this information that clearly is not accurate. >> certainly for the families, dan, do they have to wait to get final confirmation of what happened? do they have to see a plane or have to see the debris to get any type of insurance pad or anything like that? >> first and foremost on

personal and psychological level i think a lot of them need that and that is the most important thing that goes part and parcel with the answers, but certainly to the extent there are any legal claims that come out of this, you know, we are really back at the same place we were three months ago, and you need to get some hard and fast evidence to move forward. >> right. david, quickly. you're on the phone with us. what is the next step here then? >> we switch tactics. instead of throwing that dart and moving the bluefin to where the sound is coming from it's a long stretch. for the sake of the family members we need to enforce this is going to take a long time to cover that much ground coming up. >> david, daniel, paul, jeff, thank you all very much. appreciate it. joining us tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. for "new day." and don't miss "state of the union" at 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern time. susan rice is candy crowley's guest. thank you for joining us

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