Bowe Bergdahl: Taliban Treated Me Better than U.S.

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to desertion charges this month, complained that the Taliban treated him better than the U.S.

Bergdahl. 31, told British TV journalist Sean Langan in an interview printed in the Sunday Times in London that the torture he went through at the hands of the Taliban was less of a problem than the “administrative duties” the Army assigned him as he awaited trial.

“At least the Taliban were honest enough to say, ‘I’m the guy who’s gonna cut your throat,’ ” he said. “Here, it could be the guy I pass in the corridor who’s going to sign the paper that sends me away for life.’’

Bergdahl told the interviewer that that he was tortured and kept in a steel cage during the five years the Taliban held him hostage, but that did not compare to how the Army treated him after the U.S. exchanged five Taliban prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay for his release in May 2014.

“We may as well go back to kangaroo courts and lynch mobs,” he said.

Donald Trump Jr. slammed Bergdahl’s statement once the interview went live:

How does the Taliban treat their deserters? I imagine it would be different if you got 6 of their guys killed. https://t.co/72OgC4CRZ2

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 22, 2017

Bergdahl faces a life sentence in prison for charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and pleaded guilty to those charges in early October to avoid trial.