Revisiting the Michael Hastings Rolling Stone article on Bowe Bergdahl

America's Last Prisoner of War
Three years ago, a 23-year-old soldier walked off his base in Afghanistan and into the hands of the Taliban. Now he’s a crucial pawn in negotiations to end the war. Will the Pentagon leave a man behind?


Bowe Bergdahl prepares for graduation from basic training near Fort Benning in Georgia.
Courtesy of the Bergdahl Family.

By Michael Hastings
June 7, 2012 8:00 AM ET

In June 2012, fearless Rolling Stone contributing edtior Michael Hastings wrote the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl — the young American soldier who was captured by the Taliban and became the last American prisoner of war. Hastings, the journalist who brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal in these pages, died in a car accident one year later. Bergdahl was freed this weekend. Hastings' incredible story is available in full here:

The mother and father sit at the kitchen table in their Idaho farmhouse, watching their son on YouTube plead for his life. The Taliban captured 26-year-old Bowe Bergdahl almost three years ago, on June 30th, 2009, and since that day, his parents, Jani and Bob, have had no contact with him. Like the rest of the world, their lone glimpses of Bowe – the only American prisoner of war left in either Iraq or Afghanistan – have come through a series of propaganda videos, filmed while he's been in captivity.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607#ixzz340rfJ6UK
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