Hagel Discusses Details of U.S. Operation to Exchange Taliban Detainees for Captive Soldier
The commander of the U.S. Special Forces team that retrieved Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Saturday was in direct contact with his Taliban counterpart as the two sides arranged and approached their rendezvous near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, according to senior Defense Department officials.
As additional details of the operation began to surface Sunday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials said that every precaution was taken to reduce the margin for possible error or miscalculation.
“In an operation like this, where there’s always uncertainty, always danger, you prepare for all eventualities,” said Hagel, who arrived here Sunday afternoon on a brief, unannounced stop en route from Asia to a NATO meeting in Brussels.
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