A US soldier held captive for five years by the Afghan Taliban has been released after the US agreed to hand over five Afghans imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay to the government of Qatar, US officials said.
Bowe Bergdahl, 28, the only US prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, was handed over to US troops in the south of the country on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Bergdahl, 28, was handed over about 6pm local time on Saturday, a senior official said.
The US forces, who had flown in by helicopter, were on the ground very briefly, said the officials, who would not specify the precise location of the handover.
President Barack Obama hailed the release in a brief appearance with Bergdahl's parents, Bob and Jani, in the White House Rose Garden, saying that "while Bowe was gone, he was never forgotten".
Bergdahl was on his way to an American military hospital in Germany, a US defense official said.
Another defense official said it was expected that after treatment in Germany he would be transferred to a military medical facility in San Antonio, Texas.
US Special Forces took custody of Bergdahl in a non-violent exchange with 18 Taliban members in eastern Afghanistan, senior US officials said.
He was believed to be in good condition. Before leaving for Germany, he received medical care at Bagram Air Base, the main US base in Afghanistan.
Within hours of his release, a second US defense official said the five Taliban detainees, now formally in Qatari custody, had departed the Guantanamo prison.
They were aboard a US military C-17 aircraft and en route to the Gulf emirate.
The prisoner swap comes as America is winding down its long war in Afghanistan, and raises the question of whether this could lead to broader peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government for a negotiated end to the conflict.
"We do hope that having succeeded in this narrow but important step, it will create the possibility of expanding the dialogue to other issues. But we don’t have any promises to that effect," said one senior US official deeply involved in the diplomacy.
