U.S. colonel: Tapes show Bergdahl joined Taliban

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

A retired military colonel, now a Fox News analyst, has dropped a bombshell in the case of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. Army sergeant held for five years by the Taliban who is charged with desertion and misbehaving before the enemy.

Retired Col. David Hunt says Bergdahl actually joined the Taliban, and recordings prove it.

Further, he notes the U.S. government has failed to make use of that evidence in the case against Bergdahl, who was returned to the U.S. in a stunning trade for five top terrorists held at Guantanamo.

Appearing on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show, Hunt said the Obama administration has tapes proving Bergdahl deserted to the Taliban.

"June 30, 2009, Bergdahl deserts his post in southeast Afghanistan," he said. "July 1st and 2nd, in a standard briefing to a commander of his unit, Fourth Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, we have tapes of Taliban talking on Bergdahl's phone saying that Bergdahl wanted to join them. And we have the Taliban on their own phones talking about Bergdahl trying to join them."

Hunt said the information was known July 2, and "yet we still traded him for five terrorists, had a White House ceremony and now we've taken two years since he's come back to do something which takes 90 days."

"The government has not yet and it doesn't sound like it's going to even use these tapes against Sgt. Bergdahl," he said.

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Asked by O'Reilly how the tapes were obtained, Hunt didn't elaborate, except to say there are government programs that provide such information.

Hunt explained, "There are programs, we've been doing it since World War II, in which we listen to the enemy, and people who are speaking Pashtun and ... whatever language the Taliban in that section are using, were listening because they were told to and they were also listening to Bergdahl's phone.

"What they heard was the Taliban on Bergdahl's phone because he had joined them by then. And then the Taliban on separate phones talking about him. So it's a military program."

See the interview:

The case against Bergdahl is moving forward on a charge he misbehaved before the enemy, which could result in a long prison term.

Lawyers for the soldier also have started demanding the military release a report on Bergdahl by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, who had told a hearing he didn't think Bergdahl deserved jail time.

Newsweek reported U.S. military prosecutors "said at the end of the two-day hearing that Bergdahl intended to desert his post, his actions fundamentally altered American operations in Afghanistan and that he should be held accountable for his actions."

Dahl found that Bergdahl claimed to act "over what he perceived to be problems of leadership so severe that he felt his unit was in danger," Newsweek said.

WND reported recently when GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump called Bergdahl a "traitor."

Bergdahl's attorney, Eugene Fidell, said Trump's display threatened his client's right to a fair trial.

Fidell also said in a statement Trump ought to be sued for defamation and said his client, then facing a preliminary hearing in the military justice system, is in no position to defend himself from the presidential candidate's remarks.

"Nor, as a practical matter, is [Bergdahl] in a position, for the moment, to bring the defamation lawsuit Mr. Trump richly deserves," Fidell said, NBC News reported.

But as WND has reported, last year members of Congress learned they were not among the top 90 people to be told of the deal Obama cut with terrorists to release terrorists for Bergdahl.

At the time, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told WND that nearly 100 Obama administration officials knew of the trade plan but not Congress.

WND reported the strong criticism of Obama's decision to go ahead with the terrorists-for-soldier swap.

Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh bluntly said Obama's move boiled down to "replenishing the enemy."

"The Taliban reaction to this is proof positive," he said, citing the senior member of the Afghan Taliban who told NBC News that the exchange was a "historic moment for us."