Taliban video shows handover of captured American soldier

The Taliban released a video Wednesday showing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl being handed over to U.S. forces and bundled into a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, touting the swap of the abducted American soldier for five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo as a significant achievement for the insurgents.

The 17-minute video, which was emailed to media organizations, shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan clothing, the white shalwar kameez, clean-shaven and sitting in a white pickup truck. More than a dozen Taliban fighters with machine guns, their faces mostly covered by headscarves, stand around.

A Black Hawk helicopter then lands and two Taliban fighters, one carrying a white piece of cloth tied to a stick of wood, lead Bergdahl, now wearing a gray shawl around his shoulders, half way toward the helicopter. Bergdahl is then greeted and taken by three Western-looking men in civilian clothes to the helicopter.

— The Associated Press