Bergdahl leaves Germany for US

Bowe Bergdahl was scheduled to touch down in the US in the early hours of Friday morning, having flown out of western Germany on Thursday evening. His destination: the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

"Our first priority is making sure that Sergeant Bergdahl continues to get the care and support he needs," Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

Bergdahl was receiving medical care at the Landstuhl military hospital that services the US' Ramstein Air Base near Kaiserslautern in western Germany, following his release from five years in Taliban captivity on May 31. The US' largest military medical facility outside its borders, Landstuhl is a typical first port of call for injured troops returning from Afghanistan, or Iraq prior to the US' withdrawal.

Domestic dissatisfaction

The soldier's release, part of a prisoner swap deal with the Taliban brokered by Qatar, which involved freeing five Taliban members from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, has come under criticism in the US. Some charged that the Obama administration had broken policy on not negotiating with terrorists by arranging the deal.

Politicians expressed dissatisfaction that Bergdahl was freed without the US Congress receiving the 30 days notice usually required to approve the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo. Some former soldiers alleged that Sergeant Bergdahl deserted his unit and was only subsequently taken prisoner.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that while the swap deal was messy and imperfect, he stood by the government's decision.

"We made the right decision and we did it for the right reasons: to bring home one of our own people," Hagel said. "America does not leave its soldiers behind."

The US Army was expected to launch a new investigation into the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture, an inquiry that had not begun on Thursday, according to an Associated Press report. Issues like Bergdahl's back-pay and the promotion usually accorded as a formality to prisoners of war could be affected by such an investigation.

Reintegration, not just medical aid

Another Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Tom Crosson, said Bergdahl would remain in Texas for treatment "for as long as he needs to be."

"He's there as part of his regeneration," Crosson said. "There is no set timetable. He's there to receive the regeneration care he needs."

Hagel had similarly addressed the difficulties Bergdahl was likely to have reacclimatizing after his time in captivity: "This isn't just about a physical situation. This guy was held for almost five years in God knows what kind of conditions."

Bergdahl is yet to make public comments since his release, Pentagon officials said they were not setting a timetable to this end.

msh/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)