Captured U.S. Soldier Free After 5 Years
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Wondering, too, about Stockholm syndrome. I mean, here you are depending on these people to feed you, to shelter you, to clothe you, to decide whether you live or die. You wonder what the mindset is when he gets back. The parents obviously as we said were waiting to hear whether they are going to be reunited with him either in Germany, where he's going to Landstuhl Medical Center or after he comes back, reinstituted in San Antonio at the Brook Medical Center. So, that is the latest we're getting from the Defense Department this morning. But we do know that the 28-year-old was flown to Germany from Afghanistan and he's going to go through some real medical treatment as they try to discern what his mental state is, his physical state is, and he'll be debriefed, too, before he returns home.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Now, remember, he was captured by the Taliban at the end of June in 2009, just short of five years. Yesterday, the militants freed him in return for the released of five terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. Let's now go to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for more on this incredible story. Barbara, good morning.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Christi, it was an extraordinary negotiation, five Taliban for one American soldier.</s>BOB BERGDAHL, SGT. BOWE BERGDAHL'S FATHER: I'd like to say to Bowe right now who is having trouble speaking English.</s>STARR (voice-over): An emotional moment as Bowe Bergdahl's parents stand with the president.</s>JANI BERGDAHL, BOWE BERGDAHL'S MOTHER: I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported Bowe.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After nearly five years in captivity, their son, Bowe, is coming home.</s>BOWE BERGDAHL: Release me, please. I'm begging you, bring me home, please? Bring me home.</s>STARR: Behind the scenes, a secret choreography had quickly been worked out in the last several days. A U.S. command center was set up at an undisclosed location. U.S. commandos secretly flew to a point near the border where the Taliban said they would be waiting to turn Bergdahl over. Back at Guantanamo bay, officials from Qatar were on standby, waiting to take custody of the five Taliban detainees the U.S. was releasing in return for Bergdahl. That was the guarantee the Taliban needed to let the American soldier go after five years a prisoner. The Pentagon will not disclose if it was Navy SEALs or Army Delta Force teams. They were taking no chances. Several dozen of America's most elite forces were involved. Other troops stayed at a distance, plankton drones flew overhead keeping watch. The heavily armed U.S. troops landed facing 18 Taliban and Bergdahl. A senior U.S. official says Bowe Bergdahl was able to walk and they quickly got him on board the helicopter. Once in the air, an extraordinary moment. Bergdahl wrote down the letters "SF?", asking if these men were U.S. Special Forces. (on camera): The men replied, yes, they were special forces, and they told Bergdahl they'd been looking for him for a very long time. At that point, Bowe Bergdahl broke down -- Christi, Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us -- Barbara, thank you very much. Now the question this morning among many of the questions, who are the five Guantanamo detainees released in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl? Other top Taliban commanders the group has tried to free for more than a decade. We've got pictures here but we have to say these, these are photos obtained by WikiLeaks that match the names released by the Department of Defense, but DOD would neither confirm nor deny their accuracy. All these men held important positions within the Taliban, ranging from interior minister to chief of their army staff.</s>PAUL: So, these five you're looking at here are due to arrive in Qatar today. Qatari officials are assuring the U.S. they will not become a terror threat and they won't even travel out of Qatar for a year. But a lot of people are wondering how do you assure that?</s>BLACKWELL: CNN's Richard Quest us live in Doha. Richard, what are the Qataris saying if anything how they will assure these men will not be reintegrated and become a threat to the U.S. and others?</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The authorities are saying absolutely nothing on that crucial question, as they refuse to give any details about the operation, safe to say that the mandate to negotiate was agreed by the emir himself, that it was generally what they described basic foreign policy principles of humanitarian considerations, and when you push them just that little bit further, they say they were able to act as the linchpin in these negotiations because they enjoyed the confidence of both the Taliban, where the Taliban actually have representatives here in Doha and the United States, which, of course, has longstanding military economic very deep ties between Qatar and the U.S. Even so, which ever way you pass their words, Qatar very much at the center of what has been one of the most delicate and difficult negotiations.</s>PAUL: Well, defense -- let's talk about Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. We understand that he is on his way to Qatar as well. I want to listen here to something that he said. He said, "Do you think this will help negotiation" -- I'm wondering I guess, do we have sound from him? OK, let's listen to defense secretary here.</s>CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Whether that could lead to possible new breakthroughs with the Taliban, I don't know. Hopefully, it might.</s>PAUL: All right. So, Richard, do you think that this will help in negotiations in any way with the Taliban in the U.S.?</s>QUEST: If there is one country that is well-positioned to act as a broker, an honest broker, if you like, between the two sides, when it comes to the Taliban. Not so in other areas of Middle East policy where Qatar enjoyed the enmity of many of its gulf partners because of its policies with Syria and Egypt and the like. But when you talk about the Taliban, here the Qataris are uniquely positioned to act as this honest broker between the two. For the time being, the new emir has only been in office a year. The regime change was June of last year. So, the new emir is keen to carry favor with the United States. There can be little doubt that the actions they performed in the last few months will certainly go a long way in Washington to put them in a favorable light.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. We'll look for the fruits of this relationship moving forward. Richard Quest in Doha for us -- Richard, thank you.</s>PAUL: So, one of the people who advises the president on national security matter is gong to be right here on CNN this morning.</s>BLACKWELL: National security adviser Susan Rice was there in the Rose Garden yesterday as the president made the announcement that Bergdahl had been released and this morning she's on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY". You have to hear what she has to say, coming up this morning at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. We're going to have much more on the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in a moment, because there are many angles that we still have to discuss. But we do have some other stories that broke overnight we want to tell you about this morning.</s>PAUL: All seven people aboard a private jet, first of all, sadly were killed in a fiery crash. This happened about 20 miles northwest of Boston. Officials say the plane apparently caught fire. Photos appearing on social media purporting to be of the crash site show flames and smoke.</s>BLACKWELL: Now, the victims have not been identified. Their jet had taken off from Hanscom Air Force Base when it ran into a wooded area there, but we know the NTSB is investigating.</s>PAUL: And rescuers are not optimistic about finding six missing climbers alive on Mt. Rainier. Park officials say there's "no viable chance of survival" after a helicopter search spotted only climbing gear. Now, it's believed the group most likely died in some sort of fall. Rescuers received a signal from the emergency beacons, but they only continue their search by area because entering the ground is too dangerous. The group vanished several days ago.</s>BLACKWELL: Well, there's unanimous relief and excitement that Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been released but there are some lawmakers in the second line of statements, in the second lines of these news conferences expressing some concern. We'll tell you why.</s>PAUL: Yes, in the meantime, people in Bergdahl's hometown -- oh, they are just over the moon right now.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, they are.</s>PAUL: We're going to take you there, next.