What should have been a joyous family reunion, a chance to welcome home a war hero and a photo-opportunity for a beleaguered administration, might prove instead to be a case study of multilayered complexity, nuance and ambiguity. A feel-good story threatens to validate the negative narrative of a president who deals with foreign bad guys and brushes aside the law with cavalier contempt. In hindsight, U.S. President Barack Obama would have done better simply saying that sometimes a president must rise above principles to do dirty deals that save a soldier's life.
On May 31, after five years in Taliban captivity, 28-year old U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released to U.S. Special Forces personnel. He is currently recuperating at a U.S. military base in Germany. In return, the U.S. released the five highest-ranking members of the Afghan Taliban from Guantanamo Bay into the custody of Qatar.
There are six intertwined issues: