How Far the US Went to Rescue Hostage Bowe Bergdahl

About this episode

This episode discusses the efforts made by the US government and Tony Shaffer to rescue Bowe Bergdahl, who was held hostage by the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

In 2009, Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his Army post in eastern Afghanistan, only to be abducted and held hostage until 2014. He was captured by the Taliban and then handed to the Haqqani network, an aligned terrorist group. US officials said they kept Bergdahl locked in a metal cage in total darkness after he tried to escape. By 2012, the US government was turning to Tony Shaffer for help. The retired military intelligence officer had directed several special mission task forces that conducted black operations. Now, Tony was asked to create a track-two, non-official scheme to help secure Bergdahl's release. This was a ploy that pulled in Congress, backchannels in Pakistani intelligence, and British and American media outlets. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora…

People in this episode

Host: Sasha Ingber

Guest: Tony Shaffer

Topics covered

• hostage rescue
• military operations
• intelligence
• Bowe Bergdahl
• Taliban
• US government
• black operations

Keywords

• Bowe Bergdahl
• hostage
• Taliban
• Tony Shaffer
• US government
• rescue operations
• intelligence

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, International Spy Museum

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Haqqani network, US government, Congress, Pakistani intelligence, British and American media outlets

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