Bergdahl’s home town cancels plans to celebrate his return

Bowe Bergdahl’s home town has abruptly cancelled plans for a welcome back celebration amid security fears over the prospect of big crowds - for and against the US soldier freed by the Taliban in a prisoner-swap deal.

Sgt Bergdahl was captured after walking away from his unit, unarmed, in 2009.

The town of Hailey, Idaho, has been swamped with hate mail and angry calls over Sgt Bergdahl (28), whose release after five years of captivity in Afghanistan has sparked a debate over whether he should get a hero's welcome or be punished for desertion.

Organisers of the celebration, scheduled for June 28th, last night issued a statement saying the town of 8,000 did not have the means to handle such an event, given the prospect of big crowds on both sides of the debate.

"If you had 10,000 people, 5,000 on one side and 5,000 on the other, then just due to the national attention, we don't know what to expect," police chief Jeff Gunter said.

The town has had an event called Bring Bowe Back for several years and when news broke over the weekend of Sgt Bergdahl's release in exchange for five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, organisers had announced it would be a welcome-home party instead.

But Hailey Chamber of Commerce president Jane Drussel said she and the organisation had received hate mail and calls from people lambasting the town and branding Sgt Bergdahl un-American and a traitor.

“The joy has all of a sudden become not so joyful,” she said.

US politicians and others have also complained that Congress should have been consulted about the prisoner exchange, that the deal will embolden the Taliban to snatch more American soldiers, and that the released Afghans will filter back to the battlefield.

In Washington, Rob Williams, the US national intelligence officer for South Asia, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that four of the men were expected to resume activities with the Taliban, according to two senior congressional officials.

The five include the former Taliban interior minister, who was described in a US case file leaked by WikiLeaks as having had close ties to Osama bin Laden; the Taliban’s former deputy chief of intelligence; and a former member of a joint Taliban-al Qaida cell.

A video of Sgt Bergdahl being released after five years in captivity is well-choreographed, with the American sitting in a silver pick-up truck while more than a dozen Taliban fighters with machine guns and faces largely covered by scarves stand guard nearby and on a rocky hill overlooking the site.

A Black Hawk helicopter lands, kicking up a cloud of dust. Two Taliban fighters, one carrying a white flag tied to a long, crooked stick, lead Sgt Bergdahl, now carrying a plastic bag, halfway towards the chopper.

Three apparent members of US special operations forces approach the group, shake hands with the two Taliban fighters and take Sgt Bergdahl towards the helicopter.

One of the three men pats down Sgt Bergdahl, while another takes the plastic bag from him and drops it on the ground. Then they all climb into the helicopter.

According to a voiceover on the video, the handover took place at around 4pm on Saturday in rugged Khost province, near the Pakistani border.

Back in the US, Sue Martin, a friend of the Bergdahl family and owner of Zaney's Coffee Shop in Hailey, said Sgt Bergdahl's appearance in the video shocked her. She said he looked frail, tired and damaged.

“That’s not the Bowe who left here and lived here,” she said.

Sgt Bergdahl was reported to be in stable condition at a military hospital in Germany.

AP