US soldier held by Taliban for 5 years pleads guilty to desertion

AFP

WASHINGTON -- Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier held captive in Afghanistan for five years before being freed in a prisoner swap, pleaded guilty Monday (October 16) to desertion and misconduct for walking away from his unit into enemy hands in 2009.

"I left my observation post on my own," he told a court-martial, according to CNN. "I understand leaving was against the law."

Bergdahl, 31, disappeared in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, on June 20, 2009. He was quickly captured and held by the Taliban-linked Haqqani Network

The Haqqani Network is the same group that held a US-Canadian family for five years before they were rescued last week in a Pakistani army rescue operation.

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