Lexington | The meaning of Bowe Bergdahl

摘要

Americans cannot wait for the war in Afghanistan to be over. They are not ready for how unsettling-and how like a de-feat-the end of that conflict will feel. That is the larger meaning of a political firestorm sparked by the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner-of-war in Afghanistan, in exchange for five Taliban commanders held in Guantanamo. The Bergdahl case holds short-term dangers for President Ba-rack Obama, too. As soon as the sergeant's release was announced on May 31st Republicans condemned Mr Obama for "negotiating with terrorists", and for giving kidnappers new incentives to seize Americans. The five commanders set free (who must spend a year in Qatar before returning home) were "the hardest of the hard core" who would doubtless "return to the fight", wrote Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Even Democrats such as Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticised the White House for failing to give Congress advance warning of releases from the prison at Guantanamo, as the law demands. Congressional probes loom.