In this exhilarating, enlightening episode of Serial 2, Sarah Koeing and her team dive into the intricacies of the Taliban and their relationship with different sides during the war. In the beginning of the episode, the story of U.S. journalist David Rhode is unraveled, as he was captured by the Taliban before Bergdahl. One thing that was interesting to pick up in this story was the difference of priority between Rohde’s and Bergdahl’s captures—the weight placed on a U.S. soldier versus an U.S. journalist. Compared to Bergdahl, Rohde was treated significantly better and had an Afghan translator with him that kept him in the loop of the workings in the Haqqani family. One story that I found intriguing in Rohde’s testimony was his account of when an older man defended David from the people who characterized David as an infidel and not one of God’s children. The phrase, “David is God’s creation,” became wedged in my mind as this encounter was so out-of-place in the midst of all of the anti-American vernacular that is heard mostly by these groups in the Middle East. This was seen especially in Bergdahl’s story, when Bergdahl was bombarded constantly with negative comments from the people who were keeping him.
In this episode, Koeing and her team discussed the Haqqani family and their relationship with the government in Pakistan and with the Pakistani network. One thing that I gleaned from this was the fact that the Taliban is not a single entity, in which beliefs are all commonly shared. In the media, it is often referred to the Taliban as one group, when, the workings of the Taliban in Pakistan and in Afghanistan are different, and the network in which they have established is very complex. I think David Rohde explained it best when he said that here is a war in the Islamic world about the interpretation of the faith, because between the individuals who say all Islam non-believers should die and those, like the old man in Rohde’s story earlier, who believe that all people are God’s creation, it is understandable to see how discrepancies are seen in these circles. A key aspect I learned in this episode is that the single story of the Taliban, that is often popularized in American media, is more multifaceted and is a key in understanding the war in Afghanistan. As the Taliban function as Islamic nationalists in their circles, I have learned that their goals are to not have America have a foothold any longer in Afghanistan and to remove Western influences from their culture. By seeing how the Taliban were excited by the prospect of having a U.S. soldier captured and having this leverage over the U.S. military, demonstrated their goals of eliminating Western, mostly American, influences from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“I mean, to me that was probably the most destructive part of getting him home, was just that conclusion: oh, he’s a traitor.”
When describing Bergdahl’s rescue campaign, the piece that interested me was how quickly Bergdahl was dismissed as a traitor to his country. The reasoning of the platoon did make sense, however. It goes back to the question of: Was it really worth it to leave the military base? In the midst of this prolonged, complex War on Terror, Bergdahl’s story and capture illuminates the fact that the War on Terror is long overdue for a real reflection of the actual worth of continuing and losing more lives every day.
