Bergdahl back in the US
Bowe Bergdahl, the US army sergeant who has been recovering in Germany after five years as a Taliban captive, returned to the United States early Friday to continue his medical treatment.
A Pentagon spokesman, US navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, said Bergdahl was flown to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio from Ramstein Air Base.
While at the Texas army base, Bergdahl "will continue the next phase of his reintegration process," Kirby said, adding there was no timeline for the process.
"Our focus remains on his health and well-being," he said. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel "is confident that the army will continue to ensure that Sergeant Bergdahl receives the care, time and space he needs to complete his recovery and reintegration", the spokesman said in a statement.
The Idaho native was expected to be reunited with his family in San Antonio. He was captured in Afghanistan in June 2009 and released by the Taliban on May 31 in a deal struck by the Obama administration in which five senior Taliban officials were released from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Before his departure from Germany on Thursday, officials in Washington said Bergdahl will not receive the automatic army promotion that would have taken effect this month if he were still in captivity. Now that he is back in US military control, any future promotions would depend on his performance and achievement of certain training and education milestones.
Officials have kept a lid on details of Bergdahl's condition out of concern that he not be rushed back into the public spotlight after a lengthy period in captivity and amid a public uproar over the circumstances of his capture and release.
Officials also said on Thursday that the army has not yet formally begun a new review into the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture and whether he walked away without leave or was deserting the army when he was found and taken by insurgents.
(China Daily 06/14/2014 page8)
