Taliban terror lord Mullah Mohammed Omar gloated Sunday over the “big victory” that freed five dangerous Guantanamo Bay detainees in exchange for an American POW — a swap that Republican leaders said was “disturbing” and “put our soldiers at risk.”
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation, all the mujahedeen and to the families and relatives of the prisoners for this big victory regarding the release of five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo prison,” Omar said in a rare public statement.
The one-eyed Islamic cleric, in hiding since US forces ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan, also thanked Qatar’s government for mediating the deal and agreeing to host the freed terrorists for a year.
Republican politicians blasted the Obama administration over its unprecedented deal to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive for nearly five years after slipping away from his military outpost in eastern Afghanistan.
Sen. John McCain, who was tortured as a POW in Vietnam, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” the “big issue” was the future of the five freed Afghans, whom he called “the hardest of the hard core.”
“It is disturbing that these individuals would have the ability to re-enter the fight, and they are big, high-level people, possibly responsible for the deaths of thousands,” the Arizona senator said.
Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the swap sent a message that America was “negotiating with terrorists.”
“We have now set a price,” Rogers told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So we have a changing footprint in Afghanistan, which would put our soldiers at risk for this notion that, if I can get one, I can get five Taliban released.”
Rogers claimed the administration “came to Congress about a year ago and said: We’re thinking about doing these negotiations.”
“And, by the way, they didn’t get a very warm reception from either party in the national security committees. They said: This is fraught with trouble,” he recalled.
Top Afghan officials also criticized the deal, with an intelligence chief saying the freed men “will definitely go back to fight if health-wise they are able to go.”
The five men had all been repeatedly refused release by Gitmo military boards, with two — Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa and Abdul Haq Wasiq — labeled a “high risk” to the United States.
Two others, Mohammad Fazl and Mullah Norullah Mori, were present during the 2001 prison riot at Mazar-e Sharif that killed CIA paramilitary officer Johnny Micheal Spann, the first US casualty of the Afghan war.
During a surprise appearance at Bagram Air Field, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was met with silence when he told troops: “This is a happy day. We got one of our own back.”
It was unclear whether the silence reflected troops’ reluctance to display emotion in front of their boss or their doubts about Bergdahl, whose capture remains shrouded in mystery.
Bergdahl, 28, disappeared in June 2009, three days after reportedly sending his parents an e-mail that said, “I am ashamed to be an American,” and, “The horror that is America is disgusting.”
He arrived Sunday for treatment at the US Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He was expected to be sent to Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, after.
A senior US official told The Associated Press that the Army would decide on any charges for Bergdahl, but the thinking was that he had suffered enough.
Bergdahl’s parents, Bob and Jani told a news conference in Boise, Idaho, that they expected it would take him a long time to reintegrate into American society.
That dad, who has a long beard and learned to speak Pashto, told Bowe: “I’m so proud of how far you were willing to go to help the Afghan people. And I think you have succeeded.”
Additional reporting by David K. Li