The Girl Left Behind

[Bengalzona]

(08-27-2016, 10:33 AM)Rotobeast Wrote: Yet... we negotiate/pay for Berdahl and the recent Iranian prisoners.

That may have furthered some animosity towards Obama, from this family.

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Bergdahl was a prisoner exchange with the Taliban rather than a ransom. But it was certainly negotiated. It is political double-talk, but the Taliban aren't treated as a terrorist organization so much anymore by our government. They are treated as a political movement (which has occasionally done terrorist acts in the past!). This is a political necessity as stabilizing the Afghani government will eventually require an agreement with and the inclusion of the Taliban. The fact that we have ground forces fighting them also makes this situation a bit different (i.e. POW exchange rather than ransomed civilians).

I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with this, but it is what it is.

BTW- There was another political expediency in the Bergdahl situation. The Taliban prisoners released in the exchange were individuals held for years at Gitmo and the current admin has been committed to getting all of the prisoners from there and closing the facility.

Iran is a country, not a terrorist group. Also, the government didn't pay to get the prisoners released. There were two negotiations: one to return money Iran had paid 40 years ago for weapons they did not receive and another for the release of prisoners. Both were under the overall heading of re-establishing normalized relations with Iran. But the admin held up the first return of Iran's money (it actually is their money) in order to wait and see if they would make good on releasing the prisoners.