Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Qatar Is Permitting The Five Freed Taliban Men To Move Freely In The Country



Five Taliban Militants Traded For Captive Soldier Are Free To Roam Qatar And Will Be Allowed To Return To Afghanistan After A Year - Despite Obama's Promise To Monitor Their Movements -- Daily Mail

* Gulf official said Taliban fighters won't be treated as prisoners while living in Qatar, and no U.S. officials will be tracking them
* It's 'absolutely' possible the prisoners the U.S. released form Guantanamo Bay could rejoin terrorist cells, President Barack Obama said today
* Senator John McCain described the five former Guantanamo Bay inmates as the 'hardest of the hard core' and the 'highest high-risk people'
* Obama suggested that he did not violate federal law by making the trade without congressional approval because his administration consulted with Congress 'for some time' about the possibility
* He also brushed aside questions about Bergdahl's capture by insurgents in 2009, saying the circumstances of his departure from base are irrelevant

Five Taliban prisoners freed in exchange for a kidnapped U.S. soldier will be allowed to move freely in Qatar, according to a senior Gulf official, even as President Barack Obama promised Tuesday that the U.S. will be keeping an eye on the Afghans.

U.S. officials have referred to the release of the Islamist militants as a transfer and said they would be subject to certain restrictions in Qatar.

One of the officials said that would include a minimum one-year ban on them traveling outside of Qatar as well as monitoring of their activities.

Read more ....

My Comment: No official comment from the White House ....  which tells me volumes. In short .... when it came to doing the details on the exchange .... the White House probably put it on the back-burner.

Update #1: Qatar Allowing Freed Taliban Men To Move Freely In Country: Gulf Official -- Reuters

Update #2: I am putting this report in the "no-kidding" department .... Statistics Suggest Taliban Leaders Freed For Bowe Bergdahl May Remain A Threat -- Time

Update #3: 'They can move around freely,' Gulf official says of 5 freed Taliban commanders -- Long War Journal

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