The Obama administration is defending its decision to free 5 Taliban commanders who were being held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for one captured American servicemen.
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to US Special Forces on Saturday after spending 5 years in captivity.
Critics of the Obama administration say they've negotiated with terrorists and put US national security at risk.
Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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TEXT:
It was a remarkable image….the President of the United States flanked by the parents of Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl, the only US prisoner of war in Afghanistan….announcing in the spring sunshine that America had secured his return after 5 years in the hands of the Taliban.
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But the Obama administration paid a price for Sergeant Bergdahl's return.
5 senior Taliban figures held since the very first day at the Guantanamo Bay detention center….men previously deemed too risky ever to release….were put on a plane and flown to Qatar.
All part of a deal brokered by the emirate's Emir that US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel defended in an appearance on NBC News.
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The 5 Taliban commanders are subject to a travel ban in Qatar for the next year.
But they have been reunited with family members, and the Taliban used social media on Sunday to publish photographs of the men's return.
In Washington, the Obama administration found itself on the receiving of fury from Congress.
Republicans say it should have been given 30 days' notice of the intention to free the Gitmo 5…and conservative hawks like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas say the White House has put US national security at risk.
He spoke to ABC News.
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The White House denies that…but the row will rumble on.
Meanwhile in Sergeant Bergdahl's home town in Idaho they're preparing a party to celebrate his return.
First, though, further medical care lies ahead in Germany, then at an Army Hospital in Texas as the former P.O.W tries to get over his ordeal.
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