The federal agency, Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Thursday that the Pentagon Defense Department broke the law upon swapping captured US Army Sgt. Bowe Robert Bergdahl with the five Taliban leaders who were detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
According to the federal agency, the Pentagon is required to give a 30 days' notice prior to the congressional committees before using assumed funds for of the exchange or transfer of detainees from Cuba to another country. The swap is a clear violation of the law. Pentagon also used $988,400 of wartime funds to make the exchange. The GAO said that Pentagon's use of funds violated the Antideficiency Act because of the unexpressed appropriated funds spending.
Prior to the swap and the broken law, Army Sgt. Bowe Robert Bergdahl is a United States Army soldier who was held imprisoned by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan since June 2009 until his release over two months ago. The circumstances under his captivity by the Taliban have since become a subject of intense media inquiry.
The swap between Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and the five Taliban leaders rapidly became a political controversy within the United States.
The nonpartisan GAO decision backs the disparagements of Republicans, who have stricken the Obama administration for the failed notification to the Congress before the swap between Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and the five Taliban leaders was made. Although the Democrats have also raised questions about the notification issues, they have typically sided with the White House on the transfer.
Due to the arising controversies regarding the swap, the Obama administration questioned the constitutionality of the provision requiring 30 days' notice for transferring detainees saying that under certain circumstances there would be violation in the separation of powers.
The five Taliban detainees who had been held prison for more than a decade were known as the "Taliban Five" that were transferred from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to custody in Doha, Qatar are Mohammad Fazl, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Norullah Noori, and Mohammad Nabi Omari. They were the Taliban army chief of staff, a Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, a former Taliban interior minister, and two other senior Taliban figures.
As some US lawmakers still said the release was illegal and cited intelligence suggesting the high-level Taliban officials could return to the Afghanistan combat zone, US President Barack Obama signed the bill, he released a signing statement saying that the restriction interfered with the president's executive power as commander-in-chief.
Repercussions and considerations in the measure of the controversial fall are highly expected. President Obama's decision on US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl swap against five Taliban leaders led to the division on the House Armed Services Committee which condemned the president's move.
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