Wikileaks is a non profit organisation that makes restricted and censored information usually about war, corruption and spying available to the public from anonymous sources. Wikileaks seems to be somewhat trusted because it is made mention in the podcast and is a source of information to some soldiers interviewed.
One of the first things mentioned in “The Golden Goose” was how Bergdahl was discovered. According to the the interview with a reporter who had had access to Taliban men; Bergdahl was discovered because of information by nomads who had seen him near their tent because he had been asking about the police or Kabul. This is the similar account that is reported by Wikileaks, which says, “THAT AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IS TALKING AND IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH. INDICATES AMERICAN SOLDIER HAS CAMERA” This narrative made by Wikileaks paints Bergdahl as deserter rather than someone trying to cause a DUSTWUN and this was a narrative that even Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers in his platoon believed happened. The account however completely differs from the account by Bergdahl who said he was in the open desert out of site of people. He never mentioned coming into contact with locals or being in or close to tents. The host of the podcast does give an explanation saying that maybe he was close to the tents of nomads and did not realize it.
An account from Wikileaks that corresponded with what was being said on the podcast and was that the Taliban thought that Bergdahl was high up in the military and very valuable to the US. This was thought because of how excessive the military was in it’s search for Bergdahl- wielding helicopters, tanks and large amounts of soldiers. This is part of the text showing the Taliban’s thoughts on Bergdahl-
YES LOOK THEY HAVE ALL AMERICANS, ANA HELICOPTERS THE PLANES ARE LOOKING FOR HIM. 1- I THINK HE IS BIG SHOT THAT WHY THEY ARE LOOKING FOR HIM. 3-CAN YOU GUYS MAKE A VIDEO OF HIM AND ANNOUNCE IT ALL OVER AFGHANISTAN THAT WE HAVE ONE OF THE AMERICANS. 1- WE ALREADY HAVE A VIDEO OF HIM.
An piece of information relayed by Wikileaks was not brought up in Episode 2 at all, “THAT THE TALIBAN HAD 3 X CIVILIANS AND 1 X U.S. SOLDIER CAPTURED.”
This we know as not being true because Bergdahl is said to be the first American captured by the Taliban, so it might be false information that was being fed from the Taliban to create confusion.
Another very confusing piece of information that was disclosed by Wikileaks was this,
“REPORTS HAVE JUST FINISHED WITH THE KLE WITH 2 X ELDERS FROM MEST AND THE MEST COMMANDER.THE ELDERS WERE ASKED BY THE TALIBAN TO A TRADE BETWEEN THE U.S. AND TALIBAN. THE TALIBAN TREMS ARE 15 OF THEIR TALIBAN BROTHERS IN U.S. JAIL AND SOME MONEY IN EXCHANGE FOR PVT BERGDAHL. THE ELDERS ASSURED ME THAT PVT BERGDAHL IS ALIVE AND THAT HE IN NOT BEING HARMED.
THE ELDERS ARE GOING TO TO HAVE ANOTHER MEETING WITH THEMSELVES TO DISCUSS HELPING US THIS AFTERNOON. THEY REQUESTED TO HAVE ANOTHER MEETING WITH ME THE SAME TIME TOMORROW.”
This is stated while the search for Bergdahl is going on yet no where in the episode or by anyone interviewed does this come up. It does however sound like a later discussion that the US government might have when deciding to give up 5 Taliban men for Bergdahl, but this I assume comes way later.
I do not agree with stealthy cyber-organisation the US military relied on. My first concern being that this was a war zone so there was a large risk involved. In addition to that the military was aware that Bergdahl would be relocated to Pakistan so it was a clear waste of energy and resources. I understand the desire to seem as though they were doing something to recover a US soldier but I do not think much consideration was given to how taxing an expedition like this would be to all involved. For one there could have been a time frame for them conduct their search in Afghanistan before calling it off or employing smaller platoons to keep up the search. Although the host does mention that it would be difficult to gain access to Pakistan, she did not rule it off the table by saying it would be impossible. Maybe if the US military had estimated how invested they were willing to get to recover Bergdahl they might have considered investing those energies in gaining some sort of access to Pakistan.
According to a previous US soldier, the US still had little knowledge of how the Taliban operated in Afghanistan. There were many concerning things mentioned in the podcast, such as, men working with very little sleep, few opportunities for rotation resulting in weeks on duty ,damage to trucks and equipment and lives put at risk. There is an account in which a bombs were placed in building thought to be where Bergdahl was kept because the Taliban was feeding them false information. This speaks to the risk at which they were placing other US soldiers which had been one of my first thoughts when listening to this podcast. One thing that this mass campaign resulted in that was probably not anticipated was damage to the moral of the soldiers because of how it did not result in anything. In addition to moral being out put to question I think this was also a time when feelings of hate towards Bergdahl were nurtured and probably solidified in the minds of many men on the field. This I believe sets the tone for continuing resentment still seen towards him today.
