The American soldier released Saturday by the Taliban after nearly five years in captivity is in “good” condition and undergoing medical treatment at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, officials said.
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is able to walk on his own power and will be flown soon to a US military medical center in Landstuhl, Germany for further medical care and to “decompress” after his ordeal, US defence officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Bergdahl was handed over to “a few dozen” US special operations forces in eastern Afghanistan earlier Saturday, a senior defence official said.
The troops were backed up by “multiple” helicopters and surveillance aircraft, while about 18 Taliban militants were present at the release, the officials said.
At the US medical center in Landstuhl, Bergdahl will “begin the reintegration process, which will include time for him to tell his story, decompress and begin to reconnect with his family,” the senior defence official said.
He will eventually be flown to San Antonio medical center in Texas to reunite with his family.
Bergdahl was the sole US prisoner of war in the 13-year-old conflict. He disappeared in June 2009 from a base in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan.