American Cipher

by Matt Farwell

  appointed by President Bush: Peter Baker and Robin Wright, “Bush Taps Skeptic of Buildup as ‘War Czar,’” Washington Post, May 16, 2007, http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501612.html.

  “The Taliban want to talk”: Interview with Barnett R. Rubin, September 2017.

  “We’re gonna need you full time”: Ibid.

  Obama agreed that Agha could travel: Coll, Directorate S, p. 243.

  “most important objective”: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices: A Memoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014).

  German and Qatari diplomats: Interview with Barnett R. Rubin, September 2017.

  meeting began with each side reading: Coll, Directorate S, p. 512.

  the Haqqanis and the Taliban: Interview with Jeff Hayes, June 2016.

  the prisoner exchange: In his opening bid, Agha called for twelve Taliban detainees to be released from Guantanamo and Bagram in exchange for Bergdahl.

  In the ambulance: Ronan Farrow, War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence (New York: Norton, 2018), p. 121.

  National Defense Authorization Act: Josh Gerstein, “Obama Signs Defense Bill that Could Cripple His Guantanamo Policy,” Politico, January 7, 2011, http://politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2011/01/obama-signs-defense-bill-that-could-cripple-his-guantanamo-policy-031996.

  direct aim at Obama’s pledge: Barack Obama, “Statement by the President on H.R. 6523,” National Archives and Records Administration, January 7, 2011, http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/07/statement-president-hr-6523.

  Washington hard-liners had: Interview with White House official.

  on his first day in office: Exec. Order. No. 13492, 74 Fed. Reg. 4669 (January 22, 2009), https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/2009-obama.html.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: BOB’S WAR

  The stickers had been sent: Interview with Keith Maupin, May 2016.

  “My theory was”: Bob Bergdahl email, July 2017.

  “Former Spy with Agenda”: Mark Mazzetti, “Former Spy with Agenda Operates a Private C.I.A.,” New York Times, January 22, 2011, http://nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/23clarridge.html.

  Such blood-money payoffs: M. Ilyas Khan, “CIA Contractor Ray Davis Freed over Pakistan Killings,” BBC News, March 16, 2011, http://bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12757244.

  “If you’re a CIA Blackwater”: Interview with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, April 2012.

  A tall, kind-eyed man: Interview with Marc Grossman, April 2016.

  Clinton asked him: Mark Landler, “Richard Holbrooke to Be Replaced by Marc Grossman,” New York Times, February 14, 2011, http://nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/asia/15envoy.html.

  negotiating with Omar’s direct blessing: Coll, Directorate S, p. 527.

  The Fake Mullah: Carlotta Gall and Dexter Filkins, “Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor,” New York Times, November 22, 2010, https://nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html?ref=asia.

  “dealing with the real guy”: Interview with Jeff Hayes, June 2016.

  If he followed through: Coll, Directorate S, p. 528.

  the Bergdahls feared: Interview with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, April 2012.

  “I am the father”: Robert Bergdahl, “Captured American Soldier in Pakistan,” YouTube, 3:09, May 6, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJmmZQ3byKQ.

  The Rutherford video: Blazing Catfur, “Taliban Video of Colin Mackenzie Rutherford,” YouTube, 3:09, May 8, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dapJEDKFXjo.

  returned to the Munich safe house: Coll, Directorate S, p. 567.

  letter for President Obama: The letter was typewritten, and the Americans considered it an unverifiable claim. Earlier that year, the Washington Post had reported that Omar had been rushed to a hospital in Karachi by his ISI minders and had suffered mild brain damage as a result. (The story cited Clarridge’s Eclipse Group as its source.) The Taliban leader had not been seen in public in years, and for all the Americans knew, the letter could have been written by any Taliban imposter, including the ISI.

  pressing for the prisoner exchange: Coll, Directorate S, p.568.

  when Grossman reiterated: Ibid., p. 581.

  getting the plan through: Ibid., p. 583.

  “It was incomprehensible”: Interview with Barnett R. Rubin, September 2016.

  “peaceniks sitting around”: Interview with Jeff Hayes, June 2016.

  “If I added up”: Notes taken by Jani Bergdahl, November 2011.

  “If you don’t know”: Bob Bergdahl email, August 2018.

  the alias used by: Rod Nordland, “One Voice or Many for the Taliban, but Pegged to a Single Name,” New York Times, June 14, 2011.

  Sergeant Bergdahl’s weeklong escape: Bergdahl had been promoted in absentia on June 15, 2011. Brig. Gen. Richard Mustion, Human Resources Command, flew to Hailey for the promotion ceremony in Bob and Jani’s backyard, where they were joined by Idaho governor Butch Otter and his wife, Lori. Email from Brig. Gen. Mustion to Bob Bergdahl, June 15, 2011; CNN Wire Staff and Larry Shaughnessy, “Captured U.S. Soldier Receives Second Promotion in Two Years,” CNN, June 17, 2011, https://cnn.com/2011/US/06/17/afghanistan.captured.soldier/index.html.

  “They just blew a gasket”: Interview with Jeff Hayes, June 2016.

  one Republican staffer: Michael Hastings, “The Last American Prisoner of War,” Rolling Stone, June 21, 2012.

  his “Willie Horton moment”: In September 1988, George H. W. Bush’s presidential campaign ran an infamous but effective television ad about Horton, who, as a convicted murderer in Massachusetts, was out of jail on a weekend a furlough program approved by Governor Michael Dukakis when he went on a violent spree of rape and robbery. The ad put the blame squarely on Dukakis and shifted the race decisively in Bush’s favor.

  the Taliban officially withdrew: “Afghanistan’s Taliban Suspend Peace Talks with US,” BBC News, March 15, 2012, http://bbc.com/news/world-asia-17379163.

  “Leave this to me”: Bob Bergdahl email, August 2018.

  “How deep is the water”: Bob Bergdahl email to Matt Farwell, April 29, 2012.

  Instead, McDonough pledged: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.

  highly polished granite: The Korean War Veterans Memorial, http://www.koreanwarvetsmemorial.org/the-memorial/.

  “Do you understand Pashto?”: Ibid.

  “We love you”: Hastings, Ibid.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE FIVE-SIDED WIND TUNNEL

  In casual off-the-record: Interviews with journalists, December 2017, June 2018.

  Linda Norgrove, a thirty-six-year-old: Julian Borger, “Linda Norgrove: US Navy Seal Faces Disciplinary Action over Grenade Death,” Guardian, October 13, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/13/linda-norgrove-us-commando-disciplinary.

  Amerine carefully maintains: Interview with Jason Amerine, May 2016.

  that dull-sounding job: The portrait of Amerine’s organization is drawn from interviews with Army officials who requested anonymity to discuss the organization. Further references can be found in “Report on the Inquiry into the Department of Defense’s May 2014 Transfer to Qatar of Five Law-of-War Detainees in Connection with the Recovery of a Captive U.S. Soldier,” December 9, 2015, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of of Representatives, (see below as “HASC report”), https://armedservices.house.gov/sites/republicans.armedservices.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Report%20on%20the%20Inquiry%20into%20the%20Taliban%20Five%20Transfer_0.pdf [inactive].

  When President Truman abolished: Exec. Order. No. 9621, 10 Fed. Reg. 12033 (September 20, 1945), https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1945-truman.html.

  Identifying itself by the number: House Armed Services Committee Report, December 9, 2015, p. 80.

  no single official in charge: Interview wit
h Jason Amerine, May 2016.

  “How can nobody know”: Ibid.

  septuagenarian Warren Weinstein: Daniel Bergner, “The Killing of Warren Weinstein,” The New York Times Magazine, February 11, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/magazine/the-killing-of-warren-weinstein.html.

  a missionary couple: John McWethy, “Ransom Arranged to Rebel Group,” ABC News, April 11, 2003, https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130394&page=1

  Mattis and a plainclothes bodyguard arrived: Bob Bergdahl emails; interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.

  “If it were my son”: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018; interview with Amber Dach, September 2018.

  “U.S. to Launch Peace Talks”: Karen DeYoung, “U.S. to Launch Peace Talks with Taliban,” Washington Post, June 18, 2013.

  Rubin, already in Doha: Serial podcast, Season 2, Episode 9, “Trade Secrets.”

  “The flag remains”: Dawood Azami, “Afghan Taliban Open Doha Office,” BBC News, June 20, 2013.

  But it was too late: Dan Roberts and Emma Graham-Harrison, “US-Taliban Afghanistan peace talks in Qatar canceled,” Guardian, June 20, 2013.

  a successful opium trader: Interview with Barnett R. Rubin, September 2016.

  one of Mullah Omar’s: Matthieu Aikins, “The Master of Spin Boldak,” Harper’s, December 2009, p. 55, https://harpers.org/archive/2009/12/the-master-of-spin-boldak/4.

  Noorzai feared he was next: Gopal, p. 113.

  a historic catch: James Risen, Pay Any Price (New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), p. 116.

  they arrested him: Interview with Alan Seidler, Noorzai’s defense attorney, September 2016.

  found widespread support: HASC Report, p. 80.

  “This is a DoD issue”: Interview with Jason Amerine, May 2016.

  when Obama traveled to Kabul: Coll, Directorate S, p. 638.

  included Bob Bergdahl himself: Letter from Bob Bergdahl, September 2017.

  With Mullen’s support: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.

  an FBI team pursued: Corroborating versions of these events have been described in interviews with several Pentagon officials. Further documentation can be found in the December 2015 House Armed Services Committee report, pp. 82–83.

  FBI counterrorism agents, trained: Adam Goldman and Julie Tate, “Inside the FBI’s Secret Relationship with the Military’s Special Operations,” Washington Post, April 10, 2014.

  On February 23: Taliban: Calls Off Talks over Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl,” Associated Press, February 23, 2014.

  detailed exfiltration plan: HASC Report, pg. 83.

  reported $10 million: Aram Roston, “Exclusive: Inside the Other Bergdahl Negotiations,” BuzzFeed News, June 26, 2014.

  On March 6, they traveled together: Sean Smith email, December 2017.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: WELCOME HOME

  With about an hour’s notice: Chuck Hagel testimony to House Armed Services Committee: “U.S.-Taliban Prisoner Exchange,” C-SPAN video, 4:46:57, June 11, 2014, https://c-span.org/video/?319849-1/secretary-hagel-bergdahl-prisoner-exchange [inactive].

  The Americans agreed: Translation of Taliban video by former ISAF interpreters.

  a regional, one-day cease-fire: Chelsea J. Carter and Barbara Starr, “Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl: Flight to Freedom,” CNN, June 1, 2014, https://cnn.com/2014/05/31/world/meast/afghanistan-bergdahl-aboard-helicopter/index.html.

  They blindfolded him: JPRA Report.

  The film opens with several gunmen: Storyful, “Taliban Releases Video of Bowe Bergdahl Exchange,” YouTube, 17:03, June 3, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQKd7pYFx5Y.

  “We told them there are”: Emma Graham-Harrison, “Bowe Bergdahl: Taliban Release Dramatic Video of Handover to US,” Guardian, June 4, 2014, https://theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/04/taliban-releases-video-bowe-bergdahl-handed-over-us.

  Bergdahl, who is still blinking: Interview with Terrence Russell, December 2016.

  guards whom he had never seen: Ibid.

  “we’ve been looking for you”: “Bowe Bergdahl, a Taliban Captive since 2009, Has Been Freed,” CBS News, May 31, 2014, https://cbsnews.com/news/bowe-bergdahl-a-taliban-captive-since-2009-has-been-freed.

  Bergdahl broke down in tears: Sam Frizell and Zeke J. Miller, “Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Returned from Taliban Custody in Afghanistan,” Time, May 31, 2014, https://time.com/2803616/bowe-bergdahl-american-afghanistan-returned.

  it was time to salvage: Interview with White House official, June 2018.

  As the Taliban sensed: House Armed Services Committee Report, December 2015, p. 12.

  direct written approval: Hagel testimony to House Armed Services Committee: “U.S.-Taliban Prisoner Exchange,” C-SPAN video, 4:46:57, June 11, 2014, https://c-span.org/video/?319849-1/secretary-hagel-bergdahl-prisoner-exchange [inactive].

  former Pentagon lead counsel: HASC Report, December 2015, p. 11.

  Butler, who in 2005: “United States Navy Biography: Rear Admiral Richard W. Butler,” Department of the Navy, http://navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio_ret.asp?bioID=643 [inactive].

  Indiana University law school students: Whitney Coffin, “Washington Trip 5/29/14,” Gitmo Observer, http://gitmoobserver.com/2014/05.

  conditions of their imminent release: Anne Gearan, “Sources Outline Conditions on Taliban Leaders’ Release in Exchange for Bergdahl,” Washington Post, June 5, 2014, http://washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sources-outline-conditions-on-taliban-leaders-release-in-exchange-for-bergdahl/2014/06/05/4ed9d8a0-eceb-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html?utm_term=.957dbdcefe50.

  there was only one transfer: Serial podcast, Season 2, Episode 9, “Trade Secrets.”

  On the morning of May 31: House Armed Services Committee Report, December 2015, p. 31.

  first days in office: Barack Obama, Executive Order 13492—Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities, January 22, 2009, American Presidency Project, http://presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=85670.

  likely broken the law: The legality of the exchange has never been conclusively settled. The congressional Government Accountability Office ruled it illegal, but the Departments of Justice and Defense said Obama had acted within his presidential powers. Constitutional scholars remain divided on the issue. GAO memorandum from August 21, 2014, Government Accountability Office, https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/665390.pdf.

  told Jani to hold: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.

  press office held a preliminary: House Armed Services Committee Report, December 2015.

  Obama lauded the Bergdahls’: Barack Obama, “Statement by the President on Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl,” May 31, 2014, National Archives and Records Administration, http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/31/statement-president-sergeant-bowe-bergdahl.

  a Washington Post reporter: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Released Today after 5 Yrs in Taliban Captivity, in Exchange for 5 Afghan Prisoners at Gitmo,” Twitter, May 31, 2014, https://twitter.com/rajivscribe/status/472774927737970688.

  “there would be a backlash”: Interview with Chuck Hagel, January 18, 2018.

  Hagel was in Singapore: “Chuck Hagel: Beijing ‘Destabilising’ South China Sea,” BBC News, May 31, 2014, http://bbc.com/news/world-asia-27646223.

  General Dempsey posted: GEN(R) Marty Dempsey. “It Is Our Ethos That We Never Leave a Fallen Comrade. Welcome Home SGT Bowe Bergdahl,” Twitter, May 31, 2014, http://twitter.com/martin_dempsey/status/472779295086379008.

  Kerry followed with: John Kerry, “Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl,” U.S. Department of State, May 31, 2014, http://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/05/227013.htm.

  Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr: Chelsea J. Carter and Barbara Starr, “Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl: Fl
ight to Freedom,” CNN, June 1, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/31/world/meast/afghanistan-bergdahl-aboard-helicopter/index.html.

  Hagel said the teams involved: Interview with Chuck Hagel, January 18, 2018.

  Ayotte had called on: Boc Cesca, “Republicans on Sgt. Bergdahl: Then & Now,” Daily Banter, June 4, 2014, https://thedailybanter.com/issues/2014/06/04/republicans-sgt-bergdahl-now.

  Nugent had introduced: David Fahrenthold and Jaime Fuller, “The Bergdahl Boomerang: Some Lawmakers Who Long Urged a Rescue Now Sour on the Idea,” Washington Post, June 5, 2014, https://washingtonpost.com/politics/the-bergdahl-boomerang-gop-lawmakers-who-long-urged-a-rescue-now-sour-on-the-idea/2014/06/06/a538698a-ece3-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html?utm_term=.78e892a527a7.

  gears of the swap: Interview with White House official, June 2018.

  “something in the Rose Garden”: Interview with White House official, February 2018.

  Jani looked at the president: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.

  “no need for that”: Interview with Michael Mullen, February 2018.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: FOX NATION

  Anna Fontaine was: Interview with “Anna Fontaine,” December 2016.

  Each year on Memorial Day: Interview with Tanya Olson, December 2016.

  Hailey Days of the Old West: Interview with Sue Martin, July 2014.

  Bowe’s welcome-home party: City of Hailey, Office of the Mayor, “City of Hailey Statement re: Bowe Bergdahl Release,” June 2, 2014.

  “Planned Celebration for”: Matt Furber, “Planned Celebration for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger,” New York Times, June 1, 2014.

  greeted Sue Martin: Interview with Martin, July 2014.

  “a true American hero”: Brian Ries, “Politicians Scramble to Delete Pro-Bergdahl Tweets as Backlash Grows,” Mashable, June 5, 2014, http://mashable.com/2014/06/04/politicians-delete-bowe-bergdahl-tweets/#0nBdSAKiSZqT.

  airline crew announced the couple: Interviews with Bob and Jani Bergdahl, July–August 2018.