Blog Post #3
“These guards are watching the only U.S. soldier who’s ever been taken prisoner in this war. Other groups might want to steal him from them.”
In this fascinating, fast-paced episode of Serial 2, Sarah Koeing and her team detail the escape plots of Bowe Bergdahl from his capture by the Taliban. Bowe Bergdahl, the infamous American soldier supposed to have deserted his post from his military base in Afghanistan, illustrates his traumatizing, horrible capture by the Islamic Fundamentalist political group, the Taliban. The episode picks off from the realization from the American forces who were searching for Bergdahl incessantly, that he is actually deep into Pakistan, rather than Afghanistan. This changes their search priorities drastically, as the U.S. military has no say-so to go to Pakistan for said reason of finding the DUSTWUN. It fascinated me to hear all the rumors about Bergdahl that shrouded media at home and the soldiers themselves. They thought that Bergdahl was a Taliban sympathizer and that he converted to Islam. Granted, the Taliban did play a role in spreading such false information, especially when implying that Bergdahl was treated as a guest and that he was ‘relaxed in their company.’ Later, Bergdahl’s testimony and recollection of his capture, however, pointed to these rumors being very ridiculous and false.
By observing the maps of Afghanistan, courtesy of Afghanistan: A Sense of Place and The Taliban’s Version of Events, the spatial relationship between the certain regions are either across geographic lines or across borders. Based on Bergdahl’s account of his desertion and escape, the terrain of Afghanistan (and certain regions of Pakistan where Bergdahl was held) is difficult to navigate due to the harsh climate and mountainous, desert terrain. The distance between the OP Mest and FOB Sharana seem to be a tenacious distance to take on, especially at night time. Then, when regarding the places that the Taliban took Bergdahl when he was captured is a reflection of their plans for the American soldier, in terms of keeping him away from American forces and from other groups, wanting to take Bergdahl for themselves. It made sense that the first escape attempt that Bergdahl undertook was unsuccessful. The terrain was vast and unknown, and without at least some sense of direction, it was a futile effort that he would be able to get anywhere.
“He didn’t exactly stop caring about getting caught, more like he stopped having the energy to be afraid. He remembers one of the last nights, watching the sun go down, and his only thought was that it was beautiful.”
This episode, if anything, makes you question if Bergdahl should still be considered to be a traitor or not. It was mentioned that after his rescue, Bergdahl did intel debriefing of information that he found while kidnapped. This didn’t sound as actions being taken by a traitor and many soldiers were surprised by this fact. I found this interesting, especially when Bergdahl explained the difficulty of trying to find out information from his captors and how to utilize the information to his advantage, for either his escape or for the U.S. forces to know back home. It will be interesting to find out about more aspects and actors in this story that truly make it interesting and important to follow in the news.
