A Reporter's Search In Qatar For The Five Taliban Leaders Released For US Sgt. Bergdahl

Jessica Donati and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters)

My Search For The Taliban Five -- Josh Rogin, Daily Beast

Here in Doha, Qatar, everybody knows the Taliban commanders released from Guantanamo are in town, but nobody knows where. I spent an afternoon hunting for their new luxury digs.

Doha, QATAR — The summers in Doha are so unbearably hot, few people venture out on the streets during daylight hours. As I set out from my hotel to scour Doha for the five Taliban commanders released from Guantanamo Bay, I knew that the odds of running into them were against me.

I was in Doha this week with a group of diplomats, experts, and officials who gathered at the glitzy Ritz Carlton for a conference on U.S. relations with the Muslim world, hosted by the Washington-based Brookings Institution and funded in part by the Qatari foreign ministry. Most conference attendees never left the hotel, save for a meal or two at one of Doha’s ornate tourist destinations. But I was on a mission. I was determined to justify taking four days to schmooze in the Gulf by bringing home a big catch; I would find the Taliban Five or their luxury Doha compound and pose some questions to them, whether they were happy to see me or not.

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My Comment: No reporter is going to be permitted to talk to these Taliban leaders .... Qatari and U.S. officials know too well what they will be saying .... and this is publicity that they do not want right now.