6/2/14 10:56 AM Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls Ordeal

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Bob and Jani Bergdahl: It Isnt
Over for Us
BOISE For
five years, Bob
and Jani
Bergdahl have
Home Home // News News // Times-News - Southern Idaho Local News Times-News - Southern Idaho Local News
Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls
Ordeal
June 30, 2009
Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, 23, captured by the Taliban after
reportedly walking away from his base unarmed, just five
months after arriving in Afghanistan.
July 2, 2009
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ASHLEY SMITH TIMES-NEWS Sondra Van Ert, co-owner of Baldy Sports, hangs a signed ASHLEY SMITH TIMES-NEWS Sondra Van Ert, co-owner of Baldy Sports, hangs a signed
celebrating the news of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release, on Saturday, May 31, 2014 celebrating the news of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release, on Saturday, May 31, 2014
in Hailey, Idaho. Bergdahl was taken prisoner in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and Hailey is his hometown. in Hailey, Idaho. Bergdahl was taken prisoner in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and Hailey is his hometown.
ASHLEY SMITH TIMES-NEWS
6/2/14 10:56 AM Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls Ordeal
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largely kept silent with the media,
worried that saying the wrong thing
could hurt their so Read more
Debate Stirs Over U.S.-Taliban
Captive Swap
WASHINGTON
(AP) Army
Sgt. Bowe
Bergdahl can
expect a
buoyant
homecoming after five years in
Taliban hands, but those in the
government who w Read more
July 2, 2009
Two U.S. officials told The Associated Press Bergdahl had
just walked off his base with three Afghans after his
shift.
July 4, 2009
Bergdahls family learn of his capture in early July. The
military asked the Bergdahl family to keep the story quiet
as news reports could hurt rescue efforts.
July 18, 2009
Word of Bergdahls capture reaches the American public.
The news got out July 18 when the Taliban released a
video. The footage showed Bergdahl with his head
shaved, eating a meal and sitting cross-legged on what appeared to be a bunk. He expressed his
fear that he would never see or hug his family again.
July 20, 2009
At a Pentagon news conference, Defense Secretary Robert Gates condemned the Taliban video,
saying he was disgusted by the exploitation of a prisoner. Our commanders are sparing no effort
to find this young soldier, Gates said.
Aug. 2, 2009
Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, tells the media the Talibans
governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the U.S. for Bergdahls return. A
spokesman for Sangin had previously said the soldier would be killed unless the U.S. stopped
airstrikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan.
Dec. 25, 2009
Taliban releases video Christmas Day featuring Bergdahl healthy and criticizing U.S. military
operations in Afghanistan.
Feb. 8, 2010
According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, the Taliban claimed it would execute
Bergdahl unless the U.S. released Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, convicted of firing on U.S.
military officers during an escape attempt while in custody at an Afghan police station.
April 7, 2010
Taliban release video of Bergdahl, showing him pleading for his release and return home. In the
video, Bergdahl said he wants to go home and says the war in Afghanistan is not worth the
number of lives that have been lost or wasted in prison. The seven-minute video showed him in a
beard and doing a few push-ups to demonstrate hes in good physical condition.
June 12, 2010
Bergdahl promoted from private first class to specialist in absentia.
June 30, 2010
Hailey marks one-year since Bergdahls capture with coffee shop event.
6/2/14 10:56 AM Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls Ordeal
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Dec. 8, 2010
Taliban releases new video of Bergdahl. The video, taken in a wooded area, showed Berghdal
looking thin in a loose gray top, with bags under his eyes and what appeared to be an abrasion
along his left cheekbone.
April 28, 2010
Video released on jihadist forum website shows Bergdahl being blindfolded and led away by an
insurgent.
May 6, 2010
In a video on YouTube, Bowes father Bob Bergdahl wearing a long beard he began growing
just after his sons capture appeals to the Pakistani Armed Forces to locate his son and asks
that the video be shown to his son. The video was posted days after Osama Bin Ladens death in
Pakistan.
June 10, 2011
Bowe Bergdahl promoted in absentia from specialist to sergeant.
June 30, 2011
More than 50 people show up for a ceremony in support of Bergdahl two years after his capture.
September 2011
Bergdahl makes an escape attempt after several months when his jailers became more trusting
of him. He reportedly jumped from a first-floor window of a mud-brick house in Pakistan where
he was held, and went into underbrush and forested mountains. His captors found him three
days later hiding in a trench, covered with leaves. The sources described Bergdahl fighting like a
boxer when found.
May 28, 2012
Bob Bergdahl speaks at a Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in Washington, D.C., to raise
awareness of his sons situation. At the time, Bowe Bergdahl was the subject of a proposed
prisoner swap in which the Obama administration would allow the transfer of five Taliban
prisoners held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
June 7, 2012
Rolling Stone magazine reports that emails Bowe Bergdahl sent his parents before he was
captured suggest he was disillusioned and considering deserting. Bowe told his parents he was
ashamed to even be American and was disgusted with the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and with
the Army. The military has never detailed circumstances of his disappearance or capture, and he
is not classified as a deserter.
June 30, 2012
Residents of Hailey gather to commemorate three years of captivity.
Aug. 8, 2012
Talks continue for Bergdahls release. Reuters reports the United States offered to let all five
detainees travel to Qatar before requiring the Taliban to release Bergdahl. Previously, U.S.
6/2/14 10:56 AM Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls Ordeal
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officials proposed only moving some of the five first, with the release of the rest contingent on
Bergdahls release.
Sept. 9, 2012
Senior member of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network tells The Associated Press that Bergdahl
will not be harmed despite the Obama administrations decision to declare his captors a terrorist
group.
June 7, 2013
Bergdahl family receives a handwritten letter from Bowe almost four years after his capture. In a
statement, Bob and Jani Bergdahl say the letter, delivered through the International Committee of
the Red Cross, gives them hope that their son is doing as well as can be expected.
June 20, 2013
The Afghan Taliban say they are ready to free Bergdahl in exchange for five of their senior
operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.
Afghan and U.S. officials said the Taliban being considered for any exchange deal were:
Mohammad Fazl, former Taliban chief of army staff and the deputy minister of defense; Abdul
Haq Wasiq, former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence; Mullah Norullah Nuri, senior Taliban
commander in Mazar-e-Sharif; Khairullah Khairkhwa, former Taliban minister of the interior and
military commander; and Mohammed Nabi, former chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat.
June 21, 2013
Residents of Hailey gather to commemorate four years of captivity.
Aug. 31, 2013
A U.S. drone fires a pair of missiles at a militant hideout near Pakistans border with Afghanistan,
killing six suspected militants, including Sangeen Zadran, a key commander in the Haqqani
network who was linked to Bergdahls kidnapping.
Jan. 16, 2013
Proof of life video of Bowe Bergdahl surfaces. CNN reports the video shows Army Sgt. Bowe
Bergdahl of Hailey in diminished health from the effects of almost five years in captivity.
Jan. 30, 2014
Attaining Bergdahls release is the No. 1 priority at the Department of Defense, Lt. Gen. Michael
Flynn, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said before the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence.
Twenty-fours hours a day, seven days a week, there are dedicated resources committed to
bringing him home, Flynn told U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who asked about efforts to free
Bergdahl.
January 2014
Obama administration resumes talks with the Taliban for Bergdahls release. Senior officials from
the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies decide to allow the
simultaneous release of all five Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
Feb. 23, 2014
6/2/14 10:56 AM Timeline of Bowe Bergdahls Ordeal
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Hospital: Released
Soldier Bergdahl is
Stable
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Mortimer Eyes
Education Committee
A Life Remembered: A
Devoted Father and
Firefighter
Afghanistans Taliban say they suspended mediation with the United States. In a terse Pashto
language statement emailed to The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
blamed the current complex political situation in the country for the
suspension.
March 3, 2014
The Associated Press asked a senior Defense Department official if Bergdahl could face charges
of desertion if he is released. The official told the AP, it could be determined that he has more
than paid for leaving his unit if thats what really happened and theres every indicator that
he did.
April 5, 2014
Afghanistans presidential elections held. Two-term President Hamid Karzai could not run again
for office under the Afghan constitution. Voters selected among 11 candidates and many close to
the situation hoped the election would initiate a chain of events that would lead to Bergdahls
release, since many blamed Karzai for failed negotiations.
May 21, 2014
Hailey residents begin planning a June 28 Bring Bowe Back rally for the five year anniversary of
Bergdahls capture. The event would include singer Carole King and organizers predicted 7,000
people to attend.
May 31, 2014
Family, friends and supporters get word that Bowe Bergdahl is coming home.
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