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Engel: Taliban Providing More Info on Bergdahl Than U.S. Gov’t

NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports the Taliban is giving the media much more information about the Bergdahl swap than the U.S. government.

"We have actually been gettng more info today from the Taliban than we have from spokespersons here at the hospital in Landstuhl," Engel said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

"The hospital had not given the media any information on when Bergdahl might be sufficiently healthy to be released or answer any questions aside from releasing statements claiming Bergdahl's health is stable," he added.

Engel then broke down in detail how the exchange occurred between U.S. forces and the Taliban.

"They agreed that when the helicopter landed, only three people would approach from either side, so three Americans from the helicopter, the two Taliban militants and Bergdahl, that they — the Taliban needed to signal from the ground to the helicopter that it was, in fact, that group of Taliban that had him," Engel said.

"So the Americans had initially requested that they shine a green light in the air. The Taliban went back and said, ‘Well, we don’t have a green light, how about a white flag?’ The Americans said fine — this is all according to a Taliban spokesman. And you can see in the video they are carrying a white flag on a stick," Engel explained.

Published under: Taliban